A Chance at Redemption
by InTheNameOfSecrets
Summary: What would have happened if Draco Malfoy had switched sides from the beginning? Who helped him see past his stupid rivalry with Harry Potter? Will things be better for him in the end? A series of one-shots describing Draco's role on the events leading up to the Battle of Hogwarts, if he'd been on Harry's side from the start. (Based on the books and movies alike.)
1. New Beginnings

_HI! It´s the author. I just wanted to clarify that the length on the one-shots might change, depending on the importance of the event. I try to be as accurate as possible with the books and movies, but i might still miss a few details, if i do feel free to correct me! Hope you enjoy!_

 _reviews are always welcome and appreciated, every comment is good feedback.:)_

* * *

 **New Beginnings**

 _Fourth Year_

Eva sat down at an empty compartment, reading the book she´d packed last night without really focusing on the words. She was nervous, to say the least. This was supposed to be a year of new beginnings after all.

How she came to find herself at Hogwarts was a long long story.

Eva´s family was one of France´s most ancient magical pure bloodlines, the Beaumont. They were a well respected family, that is of course, until her mother´s disastrous mistake. Lucille Beaumont became pregnant with Eva at age 15, out of marriage, with another pureblooded wizard, an old family friend. Evangeline´s father wanted to terminate the pregnancy, as a bastard child could potentially ruin his and his family´s reputation. Eva´s mother wouldn´t have it so she made a pact, an Unbreakable Vow; she´d lie about who the father was, and in exchange she got to keep her baby. However, Eva´s father was cruel, and wanted to humiliate Lucille even further for being so 'careless'. He made her swear to say the father was a muggle, or a no-maj as Eva called them.

Lucille accepted even knowing that it would cost her. The Beaumont prided on being pureblooded, and when their only daughter told them her unborn child, her out of marriage child, was a result of an affair she´d had with a no-maj, they kicked her out and erased all evidence of her ever being their child. Lucille got help from her aunt, a nice woman who despised her family´s obsessions with their lineage, and moved in with her across the ocean, in Boston. That´s where Eva was born; a child of two powerful pure magical bloodlines; and although Lucille opted to give her family name to Eva, naming her Evangeline Marie Beaumont, she kept her hidden from both families, never contacting either.

Lucille had decided to become a full time mother, and didn´t resume her magical studies. However, when time came for Evangeline to do so, she arranged for Ilvermorny to take her in, and that´s where she had studied, at least until her third year. When she turned 13 Lucille´s aunt died of old age. Lucille grew sad and lonely, with Eva at school, and her aunt gone. So with the money they´d inherited from her, Lucille and Evangeline moved to Devon, England, where Eva´s mum had been offered a job at the Ministry, as an assistant of an old friend of hers. Evangeline had been okay with the decision, Ilvermorny was nice, and fun, but she didn´t feel like she entirely belonged there.

That´s how she found herself sitting alone at an empty compartment, ready to start her fourth year at Hogwarts

"Sorry" said a voice from the entrance of the small space, making Eva jump. She turned around meeting the apologetic face of a young man around her age, dark hair, bright emerald eyes framed with rimmed glasses. "Do you mind if we sit here? Everywhere else is taken."

Beside him, stood two other figures, another male, tall lanky with fiery red hair and a rather large nose. He seemed to be too busy arguing, munching on what looked to be some sort of pastry. To his other side was a girl, bushy brown hair and big expressive eyes. By the looks on her face, she seemed to be bossy.

Eva shook her hair and scooped some of her things away from the seat next to her. The dark haired guy sat down there, as the other two dropped on the seat opposite to them.

Eva extended her hand at the green eyed one, if she was to be stuck with them for three ours, she might as well introduce herself. "My name is Evangeline Beaumont, nice to meet you."

The dark haired boy took her hand and shook it once, a grin spreading across his face. "I´m Harry, Harry Potter. And this are Hermione and Ron."


	2. Besotted

**Besotted**

 _fourth year_

Draco found himself staring again. He didn´t know why. Maybe it was because of the loose tuft of dark hair falling over her face…if only he could brush it away.

"You´re drooling." He was snapped out of his thoughts by Pansy, who sat next to him during History of Magic. He frowned, trying really hard to hide away the blush forming on his cheeks. The last thing he needed was the nosey Slytherin girl asking questions.

"Whatever Parkinson." He straightened up, promptly rolling his eyes at her, before stealing another glimpse at the table next to his, where the strange girl sat with Granger. What were they doing together anyways?

"Her name´s Evangeline by the way" Pansy snorted, picking on her nails as she spoke. "Talk about a fairytale princess name. Look at her, so graceful and delicate…pathetic."

Draco leaned back against his chair, now that Parkinson had directed the conversation towards the mysterious girl, he had no shame on staring. Every time he did though, his breath caught momentarily, she was breathtakingly beautiful. And her name, Evangeline, he thought it was the most appropriate name for her. It suited her, it was a strong, elegant name, and she seemed like she owned it.

"I´d never seen her before." He muttered almost to himself, and Pansy shrugged.

"She´s a transfer student, from the States. She got here this year." She then leaned in closer to Draco, alarmingly close he thought, and smirked "Rumor has it she wasn´t sorted, I overheard Professor McGonagall talking about how she was just an honorary Gryffindor."

Draco looked at her, confused. "Honorary?"

Pansy sneered, happy to have Draco´s full attention now. "The Gryffs took her in- well, more like 'adopted' her. Professor McGonagall said she´d have to wait to get sorted until later this year, at least after the Tournament." Pansy shot a nasty look towards Evangeline. "Not that she minds though, she became Potter´s pet ever since she arrived."

Draco frowned; they did seem to get along. He´d spotted them together several times, and by the looks of it they genuinely enjoy each other´s company. She´s not even been here for a month and she´s already the fourth musketeer in Potter´s group.

It bothered him, why though, he didn´t know. But it still bothered him very much.

"How do you know all this?" He finally said with a bored tone at Pansy, pretending like the news weren´t such a big deal.

She smirked. "It´s my job to know." Then eyed him questioningly. His eyes had once more drifted towards Princess Honorary Gryffindor, and it sent a spark of jealousy to Pansy´s chest "Why do you care so much anyways? Don´t tell me she´s got you wrapped around her little finger as well. I thought you better than this Draco."

Draco scowled at her, but his eyes were still glued on the girl. For a second, she turned around to arrange her robes, and caught him staring.

The first thing Draco noticed about her, were her eyes. Stunning, big amber eyes, shining like gold. He´d never seen eyes like hers; it made him wonder if the light was playing tricks on him, or if she truly was that unique.

He should´ve looked away, he should´ve turned around and ignored her like he usually did to every other student. He should´ve, but didn´t, because the second their eyes met, she smiled. She smiled the most beautiful smile Draco had ever seen and his heart skipped a beat. Her soft, gentle gaze lingered for a bit longer, gold fixated on cold grey, before turning her attention back to class, leaving him paralysed.

He didn´t know what he was feeling, he didn´t know why he cared so much about her, all he knew was he had to do everything, anything, to see that smile again.


	3. Three Step Plan

**Three Step Plan**

 _Fourth Year_

Eva sat down right under the big old tree by the Lake. She found that this was her favorite place to spend some time alone, and think about the day´s events. Also, since she loved to draw, she had taken the extra curricular on Muggle Arts with Professor Turner, and she´d entirely forgotten about the landscape she was supposed to present at class today. So she´d taken advantage of the free period to finish it.

Task that she was unable to finish though. She found herself staring over to the Quidditch Pitch, barely making out the green uniformed group flying around and shouting so loud she could even make out a few words from where she sat. She wondered silently if he was there, her grey-eyed obsession.

Eva first saw him during her first class, earlier this year, when they accidentally bumped into each other. He´d completely ignored his friends calling after him, and knelt down to help her pick up her fallen books. Cliche, i know, but hey...it happened. He hadn´t looked at her, at least that´s what she thought, but she definitely did. He was the most good-looking guy she´d encountered so far. Not to say Harry wasn´t. He was, in a raggedy kind of way. But this guy, Draco, he seemed somehow related to Veelas, like that Beauxbaton´s champion Fleur was.

There seemed no other explanation to his scarily good looks. White Blonde hair, pale porcelain skin, angular features, but it was the eyes, the mesmerizing blue grey eyes that caught Eva´s breath. Like miniature storm clouds were capsuled inside them.

Eva found herself thinking of him on a daily basis after that first encounter, regardless of the many warnings Hermione, Harry, and especially Ron had been throwing at her. They said he was mean, cruel, and heartless. That his family was involved in dark magic. But she did not care. Not tat she didn´t believe them, Eva did, she knew all those things were true, but she also knew there was so much more than just that. There had to be more to him than just family reputations and cruel traits.

She made it her priority to talk to him, she had to figure him out, break his mean bully facade. Eva knew that deep down, he was almost screaming for help. Others had given up on him, but not her. She was determined to right his wrongs, she didn't know why, she couldn't explain this feeling, but it felt as though she was being pulled towards him. Like she´s meant to help him.

So she cooked up a plan.

First step. She started stalking him, following him wherever he went to "accidentally" run into each other enough times for him to recognize her, to memorize her face. At first it had been hard, with that black haired girl always shadowing him, but Eva still managed to do it a couple times a week.

Second step. She sat down next to him during class, the perfect opportunity to start getting acquainted. They didn´t share that many classes, only 4 a week. But those 4 classes a week we're enough for Eva to find out that he had in fact a cruelty-free side, and she quite enjoyed his company. By now, Hermione, Harry and Ron had given up trying to stop her.

After that came the Third and Final step. Let things flow naturally. On the following few weeks, they´d been hanging out, talking on breaks, sitting together on every class they shared, Eva sometimes even dared to cross the Great Hall during meals to sit next to him at the Slytherin table. She was only a honorary Gryffindor after all, old house rivalries didn't apply to her. They shouldn´t exist at all, Eva thought. Guess old habits die hard at Hogwarts.

Eva started noticing how Draco would sometimes lean closer to her during class, or brushed his hand on hers as they walked. She remembered, with a very visible blush on her face, the one time in Transfiguration where he´d reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face. His delicate, graceful fingers lingering over her cheek a little longer than they should have.

Now though, there were no shy glances, or blushing. Instead, Draco had taken her hand on their way to class several times this past few days. He no longer cared about who was around them, whether it was his insufferable friends of hers, as he kissed the corner of her mouth. His mean remarks had died down considerably, they even watched the first Tournament Task together, and managed to convince him not to cheer for Krum and support Cedric and Harry instead. He did, much to everyone´s surprise.

Eva knew they were getting closer, and she had been waiting for him to make the next step. After all, she took the first three.

She didn´t have to wait long. Earlier today, Draco cornered her after Transfiguration and asked her to Hogsmeade this weekend. Eva was sure something would go down during that trip. She had seen it in his eyes. So she had accepted.

And it wasn´t a surprise when their trip turned into a date, neither was she surprised when he asked her to walk with him through the same Lake Eva had sat by the entire morning. She hadn't even flinched when Draco stopped near the familiar Oak and faced Eva. When she asked her to be his girlfriend, she hadn´t hesitated one second.

But when he dipped his head to hers, resting both hands on Eva´s waist, and pressed their lips together, Eva´s every nerve overloaded. Her heart exploded inside her chest, feeling the soft touch of his lips on hers.

In that moment Eva knew, every step of her plan, every second spent on it was worth the wait if it meant that at the end, she got to kiss Draco Malfoy.


	4. Sorting

_Hi! Author again, This a rather short one, I´m sorry, but im trying to cover Eva´s backstory before getting started on the good parts. Be patient! :)_

 _Rewritten!_

* * *

 **Sorting**

 _Fourth Year_

Eva knew her case was rare, one in a thousand as McGonagall had kindly pointed out. Apparently, Hogwarts didn´t admit many transfer students from other Magical Schools, Eva being the only one in several hundred years.

Thanks to her mother´s last minute homeschooling Eva had been able to pick up on several subjects Hogwarts required for her transfer process to be completed. When she first arrived she had been told that the Gryffindor head Professor McGonagall had offered to take her in, as an honorary Gryffindor, at least until she was ready to be sorted.

Dumbledore however, had refused to sort her any time soon, objecting that her mind had undergone several changes in the last months, possibly causing the Sorting Hat to get confused and sort her into the wrong house. She thought that was a load of crap, but went with it nevertheless. Who could argue against Albus Dumbledore anyways.

She found out soon enough that even though her newfound friends were there, and she liked almost everybody in Gryffindor, she didn't feel like she -belonged? It was as strange feeling of being trapped inside your comfort zone. Does it make sense? It did´t make much sense to Eva. She tried explaining it to Harry, Ron and Hermione, how even though she´d learnt to love the house, and respect it´s values, what they stood for, she was still not _truly_ one of them. She hadn´t been sorted, she´d been taken in. After a few days of intense arguing with Ron, Hermione had suggested she went to Dumbledore and ask to be sorted, so she could finally feel at home.

She´d been scared at first, she found what she was looking for with the Gryffs. Friends, fun, a normal easy life. She could´t imagine herself sorted anywhere else. Besides, she'd been around enough to know she definitely did NOT want to be around Ravenclaws. Not to say Eva disliked them, they were just always so _quiet_ and buried deep into some book. It seemed boring. Hufflepuffs she could get used to, maybe. Okay, maybe not. Whoever could be kind _all the time?_ Not Eva, for sure. She had her moments.

And then there was Slytherin, the ever hated Slytherin. Oh, how it annoyed her when people assumed Slytherins were always up to some dark master plan to ruin everyone´s lives. There had to be more.

Regardless of stereotypes, getting sorted was a huge deal for her. She´d be told what her aptitudes were, what her personality was, what was inside her mind. That was a scary thought, to say the least, but she had to do it. She had to.

Which is why she sat on his office now, every house head surrounding Eva as she patiently waited for Dumbledore to place the hat on her himself. Professor McGonagall, who´d been kind enough to guide her here, smiled at her reassuringly.

"Are you sure of this Miss Beaumont?" Dumbledore asked for the third time, and Eva nodded."You need to ensure your mind is at peace, and ready."

Ready? Could anyone ever be ready for this?

"I´m ready." She whispered, despite her doubts, only loud enough for him to hear. Dumbledore nodded with a soft sweet smile and placed the hat on her head.

For a few seconds, there was only silence, and Eva relaxed. This is what every eleven year old fussed about?

"Ah! Evangeline Beaumont!" The Hat came to life, startling Eva enough to nearly jump off the chair pulled in the middle of Dumbledore´s office. "Yes, Yes, I´ve been waiting to sort you for some time now, little one."

Ah, I get it now. Yeah, I guess having your mind scrutinised by a talking Hat isn´t precisely pleasant.

"Guess it is not. But it´s still my job child." Eva´s eyes widened, but the hat continued as if though she had´t just insulted him. "Let´s see…Ah, yes. Brave young woman, compassionate, and very understanding of others. You seem to have a good heart in you Evangeline, pure and strong. You´d make a formidable Gryffindor."

Eva´s mind went to the familiar warm and cozy common room. Whilst she knew it was a good place, with good people in it, she had´t felt- no, wait. She had felt at home, that´s where her friends were, how more at home could she feel? Was Gryffindor truly where she was meant to be?

"Gryffindors will stick by your side, regardless of what comes ahead. And your life surely pans out to be...interesting. Are you sure you don´t want to stay?"

Eva frowned, feeling everyone´s eyes still on her. Dumbledore specifically seemed to know what the hat was saying, as his eyes shone with understanding. Her life will be interesting? What would happen to her? Where should she go?

"It´s not where you should go, is where you feel most at home that matters." The hat retorted wisely.

Eva sighed, Gryffindor had been her home, yes. She had her friends, her roommates, the cozy living room. Although Eva felt feverish with all that red, and Gryffndors could be so impulsive sometimes, no one seemed to think before acting. Except Hemione of course. And then there was all the bravado that surrounded them, ugh, we get it you´re brave, we don´t have to be constantly reminded. Bravery, yes she considered herself to be brave...but that was it? Just brave and courageous and- Merlin no. There had to be more, there HAD to be.

"You see, you were already there…and you didn't quite fit. Gryffindor took you in, indeed, that does´t mean that´s where you belong. You´ve felt unsure of being a Gryffindor from the moment you set foot inside, and there´s a reason to that. One should always listen to instinct, sometimes the heart can find itself...persuaded." There was a moment of silence, but Eva waited patiently. "You´re very passionate, short tempered and have fire inside you, but your mind, it is sharp. You are willing to go great lengths to get what you want, and great strategist as well…yes, yes…You made the right choice coming to me child, you´re no Gryffindor. No, you will reach your full potential in SLYTHERIN!"


	5. Hand of Friendship

**Hand of Friendship**

Fourth Year

"You´re not backing out." Eva walked by Draco´s side, arms crossed. Her beautiful wavy hair framing her very angry face, at the time she rolled her eyes at him.

Draco ran a hand through his hair. "I don't see why this is necessary."

Eva almost laughed at that, almost.

"Because you´ve made his life hell since he 'turned down your hand of friendship" She reminded him, mocking him at the last part. Draco groaned under his breath.

"He had it coming, my father would have-"

Eva stopped dead on her tracks and raised her hand at him, exasperatedly cutting him off. "I already told this you countless times, and I´ll tell you again, no father talk when you´re with me, and especially not when you´re with Harry." Then waved her hand towards the Great Hall´s entrance. "Now, go and apologize!"

Eva had been pestering him about this for weeks. Apparently, Draco´s 'stupid rivalry', as she called it, with Potter was getting in the way of their happiness. Her happiness, specifically. What that had to do with her happiness he didn´t know. Why couldn´t she just accept they weren´t friends? Was it so hard to understand that no matter how hard she tried, Draco will always hate Potter? I mean, after all, who wouldn't hate him? He always got away with things because he´s Dumbledore´s precious pet.

Draco pretended to think about it for a second, until he finally shook his head.

"I won´t do it, this is beneath me." He turned on his heels and strode away, chin high. But Eva crossed her arms. She was determined to have him do this, there was no going back.

"Do it for me." She called after him, making him stop. "If you won´t do it for Harry, do it for me."

Draco remained very still, feeling his frustration growing with every second that passed. He could take a run for it, he thought, but then that would probably ruin his relationship with Eva. He didn´t want to loose her, so he sighed defeatedly.

"Why?" he whispered, rubbing his forehead nervously. "Why is it so important to you? Is it so hard to have your boyfriend and best friend not getting along?"

Eva crossed the space between them with graceful step and reached out, placing a comforting hand on his cheek caressing it slightly. "This is not just about me Draco, it´s about you. You told me once that I push you to be a better version of yourself." Draco´s eyes darted to the ceiling clearly avoiding her eye, knowing exactly where this was going "Well, this is me, pushing you to do the right thing."

She waited, and after a few seconds, Draco sighed once more.

"Fine! I´ll do it."

Eva beamed and clapped her hands together. With a triumphant grin she dragged Draco along with her, not wanting to give him a chance to change his mind. Together, hand in hand, they crossed the doors of the Great Hall.

Draco tried to keep up his cool, as he allowed Eva to lead him towards the Gryffindor table, particularly, towards a mass of raven hair sitting in the middle of it. He felt his fellow Slytherin´s eyes on him and he couldn't help but hide his face away. This was humiliating, he hadn´t minded hanging out with Eva when she was a Gryffindor, because- well because it was Eva! He had a crush on the girl and house pride didn´t matter at the time. But this, this was by far the worst thing she´d ever had him do. Now everyone was staring, and he cursed himself for agreeing to do it in such a public way.

"Hello Harry." Eva called at the hunched over raven-haired boy with glee.

Harry Potter turned around and smiled, stopping his violent scribbling on the parchment paper sprawled before him. "Hello." Then, his eyes turned towards Draco, his smile going from friendly and warm to polite and forced. "Malfoy."

"Potter." Draco replied as dryly as Harry had.

Eva and Harry met at the Hogwarts Express earlier this year, and had grown close ever since. She´d became a constant in Harry´s everyday life, even now when Eva was no longer in Gryffindor. When she´d started dating Draco, he had no choice but to be civil with the blond, for her sake. Their quarrel had died down considerably, mostly due to Eva´s constant efforts to make peace between them. It worked, to a point, until Ron made some mean remark towards Malfoy, making him go back to his insufferable spoiled pre-Eva attitude. Harry had promised to be civil, that however didn´t mean his friends had. Well, Hermione was trying, but Ron could´t be bothered.

This time however, Ron wasn´t here to burn down Eva´s efforts on finally making her boyfriend and best friend get along.

With a smile, she sat down on the seat across from Harry´s, pulling Draco down with her. "Hope we´re not interrupting your homework Harry, but you see, Draco here has something very important to tell you."

Draco growled and Harry eyed him warily. "Does he now"

"Yup" Eva replied happily, popping the last 'p' with emphasis. "Right?"

Draco was muttering under his breath, how´d she managed to drag him all the way here? Why did he agree to this? Eva elbowed his ribs and he jumped in place, snapping out of his inner complaining. "Yes."

She smirked, and kissed his cheek before standing back up. Draco looked at her, obviously panicking. Where the bloody hell did she think she was going?

"Well then" She grinned, Harry eyeing her confused. "I´ll leave you to it."

"What?" Draco exclaimed, his voice an octave higher than it should have. Eva simply smirked, unable to contain her satisfaction.

"I´ve got things to do! I can´t skip class now, can I?" She turned to Harry, smirk growing bigger. Draco couldn´t help but notice that he´d been scammed, by his own girlfriend of all people. No doubt she was a Slytherin. "Behave. Both of you." She pointed a finger at both confused males. "I mean it. I don´t want to find out you´ve clawed each other´s eyes out."

Draco sat like a child who´d gotten into trouble, whilst Harry looked at Draco as if he may burst into flames at any second. "I´ll see you around Harry!" Eva waved and then crouched down to plant a sweet innocent kiss on Draco´s cheek once more. "And I´ll see you at the common room."

Eva skipped away, happy with how her plan had panned out so far. She´d intended for Draco to work out his differences with Harry for a long time, and finally she´d managed to talk him into doing it. Well, more like blackmailed him into doing it. Details aren´t important. Like she´d said before, she was determined to bring out the best in him, and that meant admitting he´d been an asshole and apologizing for it. Up until now, he hadn´t believed she´d make him do it, but oh how wrong he was. All she had to do now was wait, and hope for the best.

She´d initially worried when by the end of the day Draco hadn´t returned to the common room. Eva went out looking for him, playing every possible scenario in her head. Had she made a mistake throwing them together and then leaving them alone? What if any of them actually got hurt?

But oh boy she was wrong. So, so very wrong. She´d intended for him to apologize, she never actually thought she´d be seeing …THIS. Much to her delight, she found Draco still sitting on the Gryffindor Table at the Great Hall, and very surprisingly Harry was still sitting across from him as well. The parchment and homework had been now replaced with several empty chocolate frog wrappers. Both men waving their hands frantically as they rolled their eyes, called each other names, but this time, it hid no mean undertones. They laughed, and smiled, turning the eye of every single student left on the Hall towards them.

What a strange scene it may have seemed. The lion and the snake talking as friends after all this time of hatred. Eva smiled, walking away and leaving the two to their animated conversation. She´d known, she´d known they would be great friends. All they needed was a little push.


	6. Hand of Friendship Pt2

_Finally! This is the last background one-shot. I hope to have covered most of Draco/Eva´s relationship. From now on I´ll be posting the good stuff ;)._

* * *

 **Hand of Friendship Pt. 2**

 _Fourth Year_

Draco sat at the Library hidden behind the giant wooden shelves, flipping through the pages of the potions book that hovered above his essay. He flicked his wand from time to time to lift it higher whenever it almost touched the table.

He´d been at it for the last hour and was nowhere near finishing, Professor Snape had somehow managed to ensure he had no time to spare whatsoever. He loved potions though, so this was just as pleasant as anything else. Eva on the other hand hated the subject and had dismissed it entirely, grumbling about how she had better things to do than learn about Armadillo Bile Mixtures.

Midway through his note writing, Draco was interrupted by the loud arguing getting closer and finally stopping on the far end of the hall. He rolled his eyes, ready to scold whoever had no sense of respect for silence, until he was met by Hermione and Harry, who seemed rather upset.

Granger held a load of piled up books, and looked red on the face as she flicked her hair away with her spare hand. Harry seemed annoyed as well, and Draco noted, with an amused smile, how he had opted to ignore his friend´s complaining altogether.

Harry soon caught Draco staring and made a face, rollin this eyes at the frizzy haired girl next to him. Draco snickered, shrugged at him, and went back to his essay. Although, before he could recover his line of thought, he heard someone pull the chair next to his, and caught a glimpse of Potter dropping into it before he very loudly banged his head against the wooden table.

People began complaining, fleeing the space around them muttering about Harry Potter and his loud head. Draco couldn´t help but smirk.

"Trouble in Granger´s paradise?"

Harry and Draco had finally made peace, after many years of pointless quarrel, and found out they had more things in common than neither of them had thought. Although Draco wasn´t as close to him as the other two, he often found Harry went to him for distraction, and sometimes to have a good long talk about Quidditch. Harry enjoyed talking to him, it gave him time off the every day drama.

"Ron keeps getting on her nerves. There´s only so much complaining I can take from the two of them. First, he didn't believe me when I said I didn't put my name on the goblet, he stops talking to me for days and now he wont shut up about the stupid Ball and how Hermione is too embarrassed to admit she doesn't have a date to go with him."

He managed to blurt all of that without moving a muscle or even lifting his face from the table, to what Draco laughed. He leaned back on his chair and faced him, his essay forgotten.

"I thought Granger was going with Krum?"

Harry finally looked up, but only to rest his chin against the wood and face towards the books in front of him. "She is."

Draco shrugged. "Well, who are you taking to the Ball then?" He tried to keep his mind off the many annoying things happening to him.

Only he made things worse.

"Ugh, I don't know" He thumped his head back into the wooden table and Draco rolled his eyes. "That´s only one of the many things I can´t solve. Thank you, Malfoy, for reminding him how much of a failure I am."

Draco grinned, obviously having too much fun. "It´s always a pleasure."

Harry mumbled under his breath, banging his head once more.

"You´re such a drama queen Potter." Draco sneered and Harry groaned. "It´s not so hard, just reach out, smile, ask, and take whatever response you get."

Harry turned to him, eyes annoyed. "Easy for you to say, who would turn you down?"

Draco sighed, a small smile playing in his lips at what Harry said. "I´m not going."

Harry raised his brows, confused. "Oh?"

Draco nodded once. "Eva doesn´t feel comfortable going, with all those Beauxbatons students bothering her about her mother´s history. They finally found out all about her past, and won´t stop bullying her. She´s skipping it so I´ll keep her company."

Harry furrowed his brows. "I don't suppose I could join you?"

Draco chuckled "I´d rather you didn't, beside, you´re a champion. This whole ball is in your honor. You can´t skip."

Harry groaned again and hit his head with the edge, to which Draco winced. "Stop that! You´re killing the leftover brain cells inside your head."

Harry sighed, but stopped. "Eva was my last chance at avoiding humiliation."

Draco frowned, the thought of her going with him to the ball making him uncomfortable. "Well you can always ask her Potter."

Harry smirked. "Like she´d say yes. She´d only accept if I had grey eyes, and an inflated ego."

Draco rolled his eyes at him and punched Harry´s shoulder, nearly making him fall flat on his back. Harry straightened himself, chuckling as Draco shook his head in disbelief.

"At least I´m not going to the ball dateless."

Harry´s eyes widened in horror, not having considered that possibility, and Draco smirked, successfully upsetting the green-eyed.

"Pathetic." he laughed, earning himself a well deserved punch on his shoulder.

.


	7. Dumbledore's Army

**Dumbledore´s Army**

 _Fifth Year_

"You have to start taking this seriously Ronald!" Hermione scolded the ginger for the tenth time, as she, Harry, Eva, and a very scared looking Ron gathered on the Clock Tower Courtyard. Harry and Eva sat down on the stone fountain, their backs pressed against the eagle statues as they played Exploding Snap. Hermione on the other hand, stood a few steps away, somewhere under the pear tree, with Ron. "Being a prefect is not a game!"

" _´Course not ´Mione, whatever you say ´Mione!"_ Harry mocked Ron with a grin, mimicking him. His eyes still on the game.

" _Stop being such a dung brain Ronald!"_ Eva mocked back, her voice scarily similar to Hermione´s.

Both friends snickering, oblivious of Hermione angrily stomping her way back to them.

Once she was there, she swatted her hand at both their heads, just in time for Eva´s last card to explode, startling her.

"Well crap." Eva grumbled, rubbing the spot where Hermione had hit her. "Why thank you Miss Prefect, I´ve lost thanks to you."

Harry smugly extended a hand towards Eva, who reluctantly handed over a chocolate bar she´d stolen from the kitchens last night. "Pleasure doing business with you." He was in a good mood today, Eva noticed. Harry had been impossible this past few days, but today he seemed to be a lot more relaxed.

"That´s no business." Eva spat, poking her tongue at him. "She distracted me!"

Harry chuckled, "Don´t be a sore loser Beaumont."

Hermione looked at them both disapprovingly, lately she´d been so overworked and bad tempered because of her Prefect Duties. And by the looks of their argument, Ron hadn´t been much help.

They were about to get started on a new game when a sickly sweet voice caught their attention.

"Mr. Keller, it is against school regulations to carry around that...thing. I´m afraid it must be sent away from the castle immediately."

Umbridge.

As a matter of fact, once Eva turned around she met Toad Face, as she called the horrible woman. She wore her usual pink attire, and was currently standing over a first year, who until her arrival had been playing with his pet snake.

The boy was about to say something when another distinctive voice announced itself. "Ah, Professor Umbridge. I´ve been looking everywhere for you!" Draco Malfoy emerged from the entrance, smiling at Toad Face like her presence was actually something to be happy about.

Beside Eva, Harry tried to keep a straight face, fully knowing what would unfold.

"Mr. Malfoy, what exactly is it you need?" Umbridge turned, obviously irritated.

Draco however, didn't let the old witch get under his skin. He stopped in front of her, looking down at her like she was a child. "There´s a situation on the third floor professor, near the Charms classroom." He politely answered, then pretended to be surprised by Keller and his pet snake. "Keller! Good to see you again, how´s your anxiety?"

Keller frowned, and opened his mouth, but Umbridge spoke before he could. "Mr. Malfoy, now that you´re here, I need to take this young man to my office, give notice to Mr. Filch to arrange for his _creature_ ´s departure form the castle."

"I´m afraid I can´t do that professor." Draco replied shortly, his smile not faltering, in fact, Eva noticed how it grew by the second. Harry snickered under his breath, trying really hard not to call for Umbridge´s unwanted attention. Hermione looked at the scene unfold with wide eyes, unable to hide her won smile. Ron on the other hand, eyed Draco warily, as if wondering what he was up to.

"I beg your pardon?" Umbridge stuttered slightly, looking taken aback.

Draco nodded towards the very confused kid, and pretended concern. "You see Professor, Keller suffers from a severe anxiety, and his snake here is his emotional support animal." Harry couldn't keep a straight face anymore and broke into a fit of hiccupped muffled laughes. Eva´s own shoulders shook as she tried to remain silent.

"Emotional Support Animal-Mr. Malfoy are you tricking me?" Umbridge´s face grew redder, and Draco shook his head, pretending to be offended.

"Oh no no professor I would never. It´s a muggle thing you see." He tried to explain, leaning closer to her and whispering "Kind of pointless if you ask me"

"I know what they are Mr. Malfoy, but this is a snake!" She was getting frustrated, her ears matching her outfit now.

Hermione had dropped down near Eva to get a better look at them, a grin spreading on her face, even Ron moved closer.

"Snakes are very intelligent creatures professor, specially that kind." Draco pointed at the curious noodle twisting in the hands of the silent boy, who had caught on Draco´s plan and tried very hard not to smile. "I can always contact his Doctor, that's muggle for Healer, and have him explain Keller´s situation."

Umbridge narrowed her small pork-like eyes, meeting Draco´s own cunning ones.

"That won´t be necessary." She finally concluded, probably figuring it was easier to let this pass. "Mr. Malfoy." She said with finality before eyeing the snake with a wary look, and proceeded to walk away.

"Try not to walk around with your pet, Keller" Draco calmly said once Umbridge was out of range. The boy stood up and thanked Draco silently, to what Eva and Hermione couldn't help but smile. "Snape won´t be fooled by that same story." He scattered away.

"Wow, Draco I didn't know you had a heart." Harry called out for him grinning, making the blond smirk.

"Ah, Potter." He snarled making is way to them with slow bored steps. "I see you´re in a good mood today, ran out of things to sulk about?"

Harry rolled his eyes. Draco made it to the stone eagle Eva was leaning against, and rested his elbows on it.

"That was a good thing you did back there Draco." Hermione priced him with a smile, he liked him more and more as the days went by.

"Yeah well, I guess it´s part of the job." He shrugged, hinting towards his own prefect badge. Draco had been made prefect this year as well, with Pansy Parkinson much to Eva´s dislike. "Besides, any chance I get to annoy the old Toad is welcomed."

Harry rolled his eyes at him and sighed. "Yeah well, we all know prefects are here to save the day, no need to rub it in our faces." He motioned to both Eva and him, but Eva wasn´t truly bothered with them being prefects. True, they had been outnumbered, but being a prefect sounded like a lot of work to her.

"Oh I´m sorry Scarhead" Draco sneered at him, leaning forward. "Didn´t mean to burst your happy bubble."

Harry was about to make some lame remark at him when Eva spoke, purposely cutting him off. "Well, I agree with Hermione. It was a good thing. Umbridge is just getting worse by the minute."

The sudden change of subject threw Draco off a bit, but quickly regained his own line of thought and huffed. "I still don´t know how she expects us to pass our Practical exam if she won´t let us do magic." Then he looked over his shoulder, as a group of third years walked past them. "speaking of which…"

Everyone waited, but Draco´s voice trailed off before he shook his head. "Never mind."

"What? What is it?" Hermione urged, suddenly joined by Ron who´d been so very silent since Draco appeared. It bothered Eva greatly.

"I had a thought, but it´s…well it´s not stupid of course, I came up with it after all." He added with a haughty smile and Hermione smacked his shoulder with her hand. Someone was feeling violent today. "Oi! Watch it Granger, this is my good arm!"

Harry laughed at him, but pushed him further. "What were you thinking about?"

Draco looked over to him, rubbing the sport where Hermione´s hand had landed with unnecessary force. "Well, since Professor Toad Face won´t teach us, why don´t we teach ourselves?"

Eva frowned, and Hermione opened and closed her mouth, like a fish.

"Teach our-?" Ron snarled at Draco, speaking up for the first time. He was ready to point out everything wrong with his plan, his eyes furrowed, but Hermione cut him off with a growing excited grin.

"Brilliant!" She exclaimed, asking all of them jump, all except Draco who shrugged and muttered an unimpressed 'obviously.' under his breath

"What?" Eva looked from her boyfriend to her friend, not catching up at all.

"We´ll teach ourselves!" Then, she flinched, acknowledging the fact that people had started to gather around them. She covered her mouth and blushed before leaning closer, accidentally cutting Ron off the group. "If Umbridge won´t teach us, then we´ll teach ourselves."

"You just repeated the same exact thing Draco said." Eva pointed out, eyes blank.

Hermione then looked up at Harry who still had a confused look al over his face. She gulped down with difficulty, before speaking with a low scared tone. No, not scared Eva though, more like…reluctant.

"He´s back isn´t he?" She asked, and Harry flinched, immediately knowing who she was talking about. Draco instinctively reach out for Eva´s hand, and she took it, eyes glued on Hermione. "You-Know-Who, he really is back."

Harry nodded, looking grim and ashen. Eva´s grip on Draco tightened and suddenly, the sunny day had gone slightly cold.

"Then we must prepare ourselves." She added with finality, the fierce look Eva had spotted on her their first encountered growing more intense. "We must learn how to defend ourselves."

"A secret club." Eva added with the same determination Hermione had. "It makes perfect sense."

"You´re forgetting one thing though 'Mione" Ron forcefully spoke up, opening up a space between Harry and Hermione to join in. "Who will teach us?"

"Well I believe that´s rather obvious, Weasel." Draco added, as if it bothered him how slow Ron was.

"Is it going to be you?" Ron spoke with a mean mocking demeanor. "We´re doomed then, might as well fight You-Know-Who without a wand!"

Harry grimaced, and Eva knew Ron had crossed a line. She reached out for Harry´s hand at the time Hermione started reproaching him for being so emotionless. Draco remained silent, not understanding why they´d reacted that way.

He didn´t know Harry´s father died because he stood up to Voldemort, without a wand. Harry however, was not keen on pity so he ultimately shrugged it off.

"Sorry mate, I-" Ron started saying, eyes not meeting his and his ears redder than usual.

"It´s okay." He interrupted, shaking his head.

Draco just stared at the whole thing, then promptly resumed the discussion choosing to ignore what had just happened. "Anyways, no Weaselby, I didn't mean me, you wouldn't be able to keep up." Ron made a face at him, but then Draco´s eyes darted towards Harry. "I meant him."

"What?" Harry spat, eyes going wide. "Are you mad?"

Draco rolled his eyes and added snobbishly. "Well, I´m clearly the obvious choice Potter, but I´m afraid my people skills appear to be a bit rusty." Hermione laughed, and Eva smiled, shaking her head in disbelief.

"You're mad, definitely mad." Harry ignored the sarcastic remark and shook his head. "No one on their right mind would have me as a teacher. Unless you have forgotten, everyone hates me."

Draco exhaled, exasperated by Harry´s self pity act. "Saint Potter, destined to die a martyr."

Hermione grasped Harry´s shoulder and squeezed slugtly. "Draco´s right, Harry. You´re the best at it, only you could teach us."

Draco looked at Hermione and raised a single thin finger. "I beg to differ." Eva elbowed him, making him laugh a little. Then his face went neutral and hard as he turned his eyes towards a very alarmed Harry. "Potter, let´s look at the facts. You´ve faced The Dark Lord twice and lived to tell about it, even if no one believes you did."

Harry glared, but Draco didn't stop there. "That´s because they are scared, the idea of him coming back is enough to have that effect on people. Denying the truth it´s a coping mechanism, they don´t want to believe he´s back. But, if you teach them how to defend themselves, how not to be scared, then…things will be different, better even. Teach them, and you´ll go back to your old popular condescending self in no time."

Draco´s words left a thoughtful silence in the group, Eva looked up at her boyfriend and smiled. She knew Draco believed Harry, after all, his family had talked non-stop about the Dark One´s return. But seeing him like this, finding it within himself to help Harry see what was the right thing to, it made her very proud.

Harry looked at him, both boys silently agreeing to what Harry knew was a risky idea. "Fine, I´ll do it. I´ll teach them."


	8. Protego!

**Protego!**

 _Fifth Year_

Draco instantly regretted suggesting such thing as Dumbledore´s Army. Well, clearly the name hadn´t been his idea…Dumbledore´s Army, what a pathetic name. He didn´t know he´d have to actively participate on this…'army' thing.

That is exactly why Draco found himself rolling his eyes and shaking his head every time his dueling partner dropped to the ground, unable to shield himself for the thirteenth time. To be fair, he had been paired up with Longbottom. The boy could barely keep a straight face when he was around Draco, actually no one could. Even though Harry, Hermione, and Eva had grown to trust him over the past year and a half, it was because of people like Weaselby that the rest were still wary around him.

He could only take so much insulting and name calling for a day, so he jinxed him. Harry and Hermione had laughed it off, saying he had it coming, but the Weasel had made sure the entire group in this room knew how Draco Malfoy had once more lost his temper and cursed him when Harry and Hermione weren´t looking. Sneaky Weasel.

" _Stupify_." He casted, directing his wand with a bored flick towards the lousy Gryffindor. Neville flew away and landed with a thud. Draco sighed. Neville knew the spell, he had spent the entire first hour explaining how to cast a shield to the idiot, but he seemed to be too worked up and worried about Draco actually jinxing him to cast it at all. "C´mon Longbottom how hard can it be? _Protego!_ and that's it!" He called to him with exasperation.

Neville stumbled back into his feet, looking ashamed and embarrassed. From the other side of the room, Harry and Eva shot him a knowing look.

Harry knew his decision to pair him up with Neville was the right one. Even though he had a hard time admitting it to himself, Draco was the best dueler in this room next to himself, and apparently Ginny. But Neville kept getting scared thanks to the news Ron had very gladly spread this morning. Eva was sure too that Draco could make some progress with Neville, if only he wasn´t so scared of him.

"C´mon Neville, get over here." Draco sighed, running a hand through his hair, his voice much more controlled. Neville hesitated, but finally moved closer to the Slytherin. Other that him and Eva, no other slytherins were in this room, which made Draco kind of disappointed.

Once Neville successfully reached Draco´s side, the blond extended his arm and pointed towards the nearest wall. A mirror appeared in front of them, the Room of Requirement quickly fulfilling Draco´s request. "Stand over here." He stepped away, allowing Neville to fully see his reflection on the mirror. "Seeing as my presence is making you uncomfortable, try this."

Harry and Eva, who´d been dueling together, eyed Draco curiously. "What is he doing?" Harry asked, amused.

Eva shrugged, but took advantage of Harry´s distraction and pointed her wand at him. "Stupify!" The boy shot across, landing with a grunt, and Eva broke down in laughter.

Meanwhile, Draco made a gesture towards the mirror. "You´re too stiff. You need to loosen up, allow your hand to move fluidly." Neville stared down at his own hand, as Draco demonstrated the right way to flick his wand. "It´s like this, see that? It´s almost like my wand is taking control, I don´t think to much of the movement." He did it again, and Neville copied. "Yes, okay that´s definitely better. Try to breath before you do it, take a deep breath and relax."

They remained like that for 30 minutes, Neville shadowing Draco´s movements. Occasionally, people would stop and stare, wondering why Draco was making Neville stare at his reflection. But Harry understood, and so did Eva. He was trying to make Neville memorize the movement, familiarize himself with it as best as he could.

Then, out of the blue, Draco stepped in front of Neville and without a second of hesitation raised his wand at him. "Stupify!"

Neville´s reaction was immediate; it had came so naturally to him it shocked himself. His wand raised before the fast flying light could reach him and with a clear voice he shouted."Protego!"

The shield successfully evaded Draco´s spell and sent it flying to his right, missing a few Gryffindors dueling nearby.

There was a moment of silence, Neville remained very still with his wand still up in the air. Draco on the other hand flashed a side smile to him. "Much better."

The entire room broke into cheers, surrounding Neville and congratulating him on his first achievement so far. Eva and Harry grinned at the blond, who´s plopped down on the nearest armchair and sighed, content.

"That was impressive." Harry admitted, congratulating him. Eva sat on the armrest and kissed Draco´s forehead proudly.

"I know, who would´ve thought Longbottom had it in him."

Eva smirked "We weren´t talking about Neville." Then awarded Draco with a sweet kiss.


	9. Expecto Patronum!

**Expecto Patronum!**

 _Fifth Year_

"Okay everybody gather round!" Harry called dodging a few stray spells. He glared toward the source but then continued with anew excitement. "We´re changing tactics for a while. As most of you know, Professor Lupin taught me how to cast the Patronus Charm on my third year." A collective gasp ran through the people around him and he rolled his eyes. "Yes, not a big deal guys. Today, I'm gonna teach you how to produce one yourselves. It has proven to be useful in times, and I believe it´s be rather fun to try."

There was a round of claps and excited cheers. Draco rolled his eyes, but he was smiling happily. His eyes went across the room to where Eva was standing. She looked so at ease, so relaxed, compared to the entire week gone by. She´d somehow managed to get herself in trouble, no surprise there, and earned a week of detention with Umbridge. He´d seen her come back to the common room at very late hours, with tear-stains on her face. Merlin knows what that woman did to her, she never wanted to tell Draco about it. She said that telling him would only make things unnecessarily worse, and it made his blood boil. Right now though, she seemed much better.

She caught him staring, and grinned, making a beeline towards him.

"Exciting isn't it?" She beamed, once she had made it to his side. Draco embraced her and kissed the top of her hair. She couldn´t stop smiling.

"Very." He smirked, not even caring about the so called Patronus. He just wanted to get out of there and sit by the lake, with Eva in his arms.

"C´mon guys, set an example!" Hermione scolded them from their right, she was grinning though. Draco sighed and detached himself from Eva. Wand at the ready.

"Just think of your happiest memory, and say the words. It needs to be a very powerful one for it to work." He heard Harry´s voice on the background. Happiest memory…Draco didn't have many of those. He could count them with on hand.

"The Patronus Charm is one of the most difficult defensive spells known to Wizards, so don´t be frustrated or disappointed if you can´t cast it right away. It´ll take time, and practice." Harry kept explaining as he moved around the room with his hand on his wand. "Patronuses represents one´s personality, it may come in any shape."

Hermione, of course, having read the entirety of the works by professor Spangle, a known wizard to research patronuses, couldn´t keep quite.

"In very rare cases, if the witch or wizard is too strong, it can take the shape of anything they want." She added smartly and Harry grinned.

"That´s right, in very rare cases. But let´s not focus on that. Focus on yourself, and don´t try to manipulate it. Patronuses are one of the most pure representations of our souls. It can tell you more about yourself that you already know. It can show you your inner traits, as well as your connections to certain people around you. It is common for two people to share a patronus, connecting them in a very deep level. Sometimes it can take the form of their hidden desires and true motives."

Harry spoke in a way that caught everyone´s attention, including Draco´s. He couldn't help but wonder what his patronus might be. A snake? That would definitely not help his case right now. What if it´s something dark and horrible, or even worse, some sort of small rodent?

" _Expecto_ _Patronum_!" He said, thinking of the Christmas during his first year. He´d spent it with his parents, they´d been so proud of him for making it into Slytherin. It was a very happy one. But by the looks of the faint eerie silvery wisp coming from his wand, not happy enough.

" _Expecto_ _Patronum_!" He heard Hermione beside him, only capable of producing a non-corporeal patronus.

To his other side, was Eva, gracefully waving her wand and frowning every now and then.

In the far right corner, he caught a glimpse of Luna and watched with awe as she successfully casted a silvery hare, leaping around her and over the heads of everyone near her.

"Well done Luna!" Harry congratulated.

Draco took a deep breath, ignoring the cheers coming from Hermione as she too managed to cast an otter, happily swirling around her and barely gracing Draco´s shoulder. He stared ahead, not managing to get a hold of concentration.

He caught Eva once more and noticed how she was struggling. She had that frown between her brows that made Draco want to lift his thumb and massage it away, She was so beautiful, even as she was frustrated. He felt himself engulfed on her swift movements, remembering the warmth of her arms around him, the touch of her lips…

He blinked once, realizing what was happening, and without wasting another second he raised his wand " _Expecto_ _Patronum_!"

Out of his wand, the wand that had cursed and jinxed and done such horrible things, came the most beautiful silvery light, and out of that light emerged a winged creature, small, but regal. A falcon, he recognized. It soared above, flapping its wings with authority. It faced Draco, before taking off and circling him.

"It´s beautiful" Hermione said from beside him. "Do you know what they mean? Falcons?"

He nodded, as a child he owned a book on animals. He remembered having an affinity for this particular bird of prey. They represented strength, superiority, and wisdom. But also loyalty, and determination. Everything Draco ever wanted to be. Draco grinned, unable to contain his happiness.

"Well look at that." Harry said approaching him, his own eyes wide in admiration as the bird came to a stop and landed swiftly on Draco´s extended arm. "It suits you."

Draco laughed, but stopped when a groan came from beside him, Eva. He turned around, as did Harry and Hermione. Eva had her arms crossed over her chest, jealously staring at the bird on Draco´s arm.

"I hate you." She said, eyeing the bird as it cocked its head to her. Draco laughed, and casted the bird away. It disappeared, and it almost sent a pang of sadness to him. Harry, and Hermione were joined by Ron, as he bragged about his canine Patronus.

Draco finally reached Eva, and with one single peck on the cheek he whispered to her ear.

"Do you know what my happy memory was?" She shook her head, defeated. He kissed her once more "You."

Her eyes widened, and a grin spread through her face. "Really?" Draco nodded and she pounced to him, arms surrounding him like a death grip. She kissed him, so passionately; they caught the eye of almost everyone in the room.

Harry cleared his throat and they broke apart, Eva blushing violently but Draco smirking as though he´d just been told he´d won the House Cup.

"Try again." Draco encouraged her.

Eva smiled at him, her heart still swelled on her chest. It beated so fast she wanted to forget about the whole patronus entirely and kiss Draco until nightfall. This man is the death of me, she thought. But the thought was soon interrupted by the several eyes set on her, making her anxiety grow. She regretted making a show of kissing Draco.

"Ignore them." She heard him say under his breath, and her eyes were suddenly locked on his. She lost herself on them, and suddenly the world around her existed no more. She drowned on those stormy blue grey eyes, looking at her with such love and encouragement. She loved him. She really did, and if her happiest memory wasn´t him, nothing else was.

" _Expecto_ _Patronum_ " She half whispered, eyes still locked on her lover´s. And suddenly, the slivery mist grew, and grew, and grew, until the room itself had to rearrange, and expand to leave space. The mist kept growing, until it was at least 20 feet tall, and then it expanded its wings and made everyone in the room scramble to the furthest corner, except for Harry, Hermione and Draco who gaped at the creature before them.

Eva was unable to muster a word. Out of her wand came a magnificent beast. Standing with authority over everyone else, was the most beautiful dragon, shining with silvery eerie light, lighting up every corner of the room. It stretched its wings, unable to take flight by the size of the room and the people in it, so it simply folded them back. It turned around, and faced Eva, eyes shining in pure siver, almost like…

Realization hit her, as the creature edged the place where Draco was standing. His grey eyes shining almost as bright as the dragon´s looking back at him. Understanding downed on her like a bucket of ice cold water. This was her soul. But also, as Harry had said, this creature, this magnificent creature, was also her heart´s inner desires.

The creature dissipated, as Eva´s concentration faded away. Draco turned around, facing her. Everyone in the room had gone silent.

"Her Patronus is a Dragon." The whispers followed, everyone realizing the obvious. Hermione clasped Harry´s arm as she grinned so brightly at the couple, Harry joined her. They knew, they´d known for a while that Draco and Eva belonged together. This just proved it further.

Draco met her eye, his own screaming with emotion even though his mouth remained shut. Eva smiled. He was her soul, he was her heart´s every dream and desire.

Her Draco. Her Dragon.


	10. Battle Of The Department Of Secrets

**Battle Of The Department Of Secrets**

 _fifth year_

Draco should´ve known, he should´ve known that Potter would be as stupid as to act on a dream. Had he learnt nothing? Draco knew of his classes with Snape, where he had been taught about Occlumency…having taken some himself from the same man, he knew it was hard. Still, Draco couldn't believe he was stupid enough not to put 2 and 2 together! The Dark Lord had lured him in, using a tactic he´d used before, and yet Harry had fallen for it again. First Ginny Weasley and the Chamber, now Sirius.

Draco sprinted through the corridors, turning to his right as fast as his feet could carry him. He heard of this by Eva´s not on his bed, saying she´ll follow Harry but wouldn't wake him up because she knew he´d try to stop her. And Merlin, of course he would!

"Where do you think you´re going, Mr. Malfoy?" He heard Snape´s distinct bored tone made him halt in place and turn.

"Severus!" he shouted relieved, approaching his godfather. Only a few weeks back he´d been introduced to the Order alongside Eva, Hermione, Ron, and Harry. And it was then when he found out about Severus being a part of it, he was only half surprised by this though, he knew Severus was a good man. "Please tell me it´s not true…"

"I´m afraid it is. Potter was stupid enough to fall into the Dark Lord´s game once more."

Draco cursed out loud, earning himself a glare from his godfather. "Eva´s with him." He explained, feeling anxiety grow inside his chest.

Snape´s eyes shone with understanding. He placed a hand on his shoulder and guided him towards his office, where he casted several protective spells. "The order had been informed of Potter´s stupid actions, they´re on their way." He said as he walked over to his desk and sat down, palms pressed together. "Seat down, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco ran a hand through his hair, looking at the man in disbelief. "I can´t, I have to get there, I have to-"

"Sit. Down."

The determination and finality in Severus´s voice made him do as he was asked, dropping on the black leather chair in front of his desk.

"I´m afraid I can´t allow you to follow after Miss Beaumont,"

Draco gripped the armrest until his knuckles went white. "You´re waisting your time, Severus." He stood up once more and reached for the door, only to find out it was sealed shut. "Let me out!"

"You can´t be seen, Draco." He spoke, his tone much more calm. "You´re father is at the Ministry, trying to fetch the prophecy Potter has so stupidly taken."

Draco froze. His father was there. If he hurt Eva in any way….

"I have to go." He repeated, more determined than ever. "If anything happens to her Severus, I swear-"

Snape cautiously placed his hands over the desk and stood up, staring Draco with cold eyes.

"Your father doesn´t know of your…infatuation with Miss Beaumont. It will only be foolish of you to walk in there, expose yourself as an avid Potter supporter and make your...relationship with her unnecessarily public." Snape´s words rang through Draco´s ears.

"So what am I supposed to do then? Wait until they get here?" He snapped, and banged his fists at the door. "My father is out there Severus! He could hurt the woman I love!"

"Miss Beaumont is perfectly capable of defending herself against any advances you father might try on her, although I doubt his attention would be directed towards her…Draco, you risk more by going than by staying."

"And why is that?!"

Snape crossed the space between them and looked over at him, his eyes almost sad. "because you have a much more important role to play, a much more important battle to fight."


	11. A Special Task

_rewritten_!

* * *

 **A Special Task**

 _sixth year_

They were all gathered around the dining table at Grimmauld Place, Sirius sat at the head, Lupin to his right and Harry to his left. All around them were the members of the Order, Tonks, the Weasleys, Kingsley, Mad Eye, Snape, Hermione, Eva and Draco Malfoy. After a year of earning their trust, he´d finally been allowed to sit at the same table as them.

Draco´s eyes darted to where Severus was seated, and he sighed. He remembered his godfather´s words when he had tried to follow Eva that night into the Department of Secrets, how he had told him he had more important battles to fight. He was right, he was damn right. Just that summer, before they entered their Sixth Year, Draco had been tasked with a mission by the Dark Lord himself. He´d been on the Dark Lords presence before, but nothing too serious, since he only had to pretend for his family, but after last week´s private audience with Voldemort…things had changed.

"What is the urgent matter you spoke of Severus." Lupin questioned his former classmate. The cold looking man sat next to Draco himself, who looked as though he´d just been told a familiar died.

Eva squeezed his hand trying to get a reaction out of him, and although he brushed her hand with his fingers every once in a while, his eyes were distant and lost in thought. Draco had completely ignored her for the last couple days, and before that he had grown absent. Every time they talked, it was as though she was talking with herself. She was desperate to get him to open up, tell her what was this all about. She´d even tried talking to Severus, but he was just as impassible as ever.

"Draco has been recruited, by the Dark Lord himself." Snape blurted out, not even bothering to make it sound light. "He will be joining the Death Eaters."

A collective gasp ran across the room, Harry´s eyes widened so big Draco thought his eyes would pop out. Sirius ran a hand through his long ragged hair, trying to make eye contact with the boy. Both of them had stood on their feet, outraged by Severus´ news.

Draco however, remained calm and quiet; Eva´s grip had become steal hard, her face pale and shocked. They all saw it coming, they just didn´t think it would be this soon. All but her, she had been so sure Draco would never agree to something like _this._

"He´s just a boy!" Molly Weasley, who´d grown to care for Malfoy, gasped with a hand over her mouth.

Harry tried to get Draco´s attention by leaning forward across the table, but Draco remained reluctant to do so. "Why would you do this?!" He demanded, "Draco you can´t!"

"Why now?" Tonks exclaimed angrily, sitting by Remus´ side. Her fists slamming against the wooden table with anger. Draco and Nymphadora had gotten closer ever since he joined the Order, leaving their family´s feud behind them. She cared so much for Draco, as he did for her.

Snape was about to answer the question, but Draco finally spoke. His voice came out calm and steady, contrasting the distracted look in his eyes.

"Lord Voldemort wishes to make me a Death Eater to give my family a chance to redeem themselves. He´s tasked me with a mission I'm supposed to carry out once I get to Hogwarts. " He took a deep breath and finally locked eyes with Harry, who had gotten paler by the second. "He wants me to kill Albus Dumbledore."

"What?!" "No!" "Just a kid!" "This is outrageous!" "Albus would never allow it!"

"Ah, but he already has." Snape spoke softly above the chaos, answering to one particular remark. "Dumbledore will be busy with a mission of his own, and to carry it out he needs time, time that he won´t be granted if Lord Voldemort decides to choose another Death Eater to carry out the task."

"What are you saying?" Tonks mumbled under her breath, feeling sick. Draco was the one to answer, his hand tightly wrapped around Eva´s who´d been dangerously silent.

"I will join the Death Eaters, and I´ll accept The Dark Lord´s task. If I'm the one supposed to kill Dumbledore I can delay the deed enough for him to work out his business." He talked with such confidence; it surprised every single member sitting around him, "I can control how long it takes for the mission to be completed, once Dumbledore has had enough time, I´ll switch sides. I just have to make the Dark Lord believe I'm on his for as long as Dumbledore needs."

"This is too dangerous." Hermione spoke for the first time, looking around in hopes of someone to backing her up. "Dumbledore can´t be serious about this!"

"He wouldn´t do that." Harry said, supporting Hermione´s statement. "I know him, he would never ask you to join!"

Severus rose a single brow at him, and smirked slightly. "Really, Mr. Potter? Would´t he?"

The argument broke again, people fighting for Draco´s fate. Only then did Draco look beside him to the silent girl who´s hand had turned to stone. Cold, solid stone.

Eva was staring at their hands, eyes blank. Draco tried to lean in to her, reassure her that the plan would work, but she simply let go of his hand, stood up, and left the room without another word.

Everyone fell silent, all pair of eyes following the girl walking out.

"Eva." Draco called after her, the silence making his words echo through the room. He stood up in a desperate attempt to stop her, and followed her out. Suddenly, the meeting had lost all importance for Draco, he didn´t care anymore about anything, all he wanted to do was make sure the she was fine.

"Eva!" He shouted after her. Eva ignored him, and kept walking, heading straight to the front door. "Eva stop!"

His hand finally got a hold of her wrist and Eva froze. For a second, there was only silence between them, until she turned on her heels so fast he didn´t have time to acknowledge it, and slapped him square in the face. Draco was shocked, but it wasn´t as much for the sudden outburst, it was because of the look on her face. It was rigid with rage to say the least, tears falling down her face faster than she could wipe them away, her body trembling with the overloaded emotions.

"How dare you." She whispered dangerously. Draco remained on his place, unable to muster a word. He was so taken aback by her reaction that neither one noticed the door opening as everyone peered out, trying to figure out where the slapping sound had came from.

"Eva…" Draco tried to explain, regaining enough consciousness to talk. She slapped him again, this time, harder than before. The betrayal on her eyes scaring the life out of him.

"How. DARE. YOU." She took a step forward. Livid. With all her strength she pushed him away, intending to cause as much damage as she could. Draco remained still, allowing her to let it all out. "YOU SELFISH BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME!"

Everyone around flinched, the pain in her voice was such it drowned everything else. Draco tried to approach her, but she pushed him back again, and Draco desperately wanted to hold her and tell her he wasn´t going, he wasn´t doing it. But he couldn't.

"Don´t come any closer!" She spat, and Draco stood on his place, eyes sad. She leaned in, her face falling, nothing but pain in it. "You want to throw yourself at the hands of Voldemort then go ahead, be my guest! But before you do so, know that you´re risking more than your own life. You´re risking every chance I have to be with the man that I love, every chance I have to be happy." Her voice was strangled, every word that came out of her mouth cut through Draco like ice cold daggers. She smiled a sarcastic, cruel smile at him and laughed humourlessly, sending a strong shiver down his spine. "But since you´re so set on this, please, by all means, carry on."

And before Draco could do anything at all, Eva turned around and crossed the hall all the way outside. The sound of her disappearating brought Draco back to his senses as he ran a hand through his hair. She was right, she was absolutely right, he was a selfish bastard. He made a move to follow her, but Hermione was by his side before he could take a step.

"Seeing you will upset her more." She cooed softly "I´ll check on her."

He nodded, eyes lost and glassy. He made his way back into the room, where everyone was looking at him sympathetically. Even Snape placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Come, Dumbledore is on his way to get the plan started."


	12. Dark Mark

**Dark Mark**

 _sixth year_

Draco sat down by the fire of the Slytherin Common Room. His mind, lost in another world. He mindlessly smoothed the fabric of the sleeve of his white shirt, right above his forearm. He could feel it, he could feel it burning him like hot iron pressed on his bare skin. He couldn´t help but think his life had finally been ruined. How could he have let this happen? He did´t know it would bring such...if only he had known, if only he had known how disgusted and ashamed he would be.

The Common Room opened, and from it came soft footsteps. Draco didn´t even look up, he didn't care who came or went. He only wanted to stay there and forget. Forget the pain, forget the suffering, forget the anger that filled him every day. He tried to remain still, but shuddered when a small delicate hand rested on his own, right above his stained skin. He closed his eyes, recognising the touch. He didn't dare look, he didn't dare meeting the disappointment and hatred on her eyes.

The fingers encircled his wrist, and pulled him out of his trance. He kept his eyes down, now open, but facing the ground. He could only feel the delicate fingers leading them out. It was late at night, but that didn't seem to stop them. They walked for a few minutes before stopping at the very recognizable room. The wall transformed into a wooden door, closing behind them with a soft thud.

As soon as the doors closed, Draco was enveloped in a pair of warm loving arms. He couldn't hold it anymore and fell. He fell to his knees in defeat and shame, the arms following him to the ground as he buried his head on the soft fabric of their robes. Tears streamed down his face, soaking it, as he broke into a fit of uncontrollable sobs. The fingers found their way to Draco´s hair, running through it, trying desperately to comfort the broken blond.

"It´s okay, Draco. I´m here, it´s all going to be okay." Her voice echoed through the room, cooing with such love and comfort it made Draco´s heart ache. He wanted to say so many things, but not a word came out. He couldn't. His voice was caught in his throat like lump. "sh, sh" After a few minutes, Draco was able to calm down, and the arm detached themselves from him, hands still on his hair. He was met by a pair of golden eyes, looking at him like he was a lost child. They shone with unshed tears, but remained as beautiful as ever.

Eva smiled at him, trying with all her might not to let him see how heartbroken she was. Her Draco had been reduced to this. Her brave, strong Draco, down on his knees, sobbing and shivering like a small kid. His beautiful eyes lost, and dull with pain. How could she have let this happen to him? How could she have possibly let the man she loves be so broken and despaired? She leaned forward, kissing his forehead, kissing his hair, kissing the corner of his mouth. Until he captured her mouth with his own. He kissed her so desperately, so passionately, his quivering lips taking in hers. His hands shaking as he held her waist and pulled her closer to him, almost like he was scared he wasn't real. His kiss turned more urgent, and she could almost taste the fear and pain through him. She let him grasp her, hold her against his own body, as she kissed him back with the same desperation, tears streaming down their faces, Draco kept shivering and shaking, unable to keep his hands still as they roamed around until they found the nearest opening towards her skin, lifting her shirt and feeling every inch or warmth she provided.

She removed his shirt, tossing it away, fingers tracing every protuberance of his once muscled body. How thin he´d became, how unnourished, and pale. His porcelain skin had turned ashen. She moved her hands down to his chest and felt every rib, every bone almost sharp enough to cut through her skin. She couldn't stop her tears from falling, every part of her Draco had been damaged and hurt, and she did nothing. He kept kissing her, down to her neck, her collarbone, her shoulders. He wanted to feel her, he wanted to know she was really here, his lips tracing every inch of her, his hands gripping her legs around him as she straddled him. He gripped so hard, too hard, he knew it would leave a mark, but he needed to feel her. He needed to know this wasn't a dream.

They were desperate, both of them, all the pain all the suffering, everything poured on every kiss, every touch, every breath. They almost melted together in a desperate attempt to feel closer, not a piece of cloth separated them. Skin to skin, chest to chest, lips to lips, every part of their bodies touching as their mouths devoured each other. Sobs turned into moans of pleasure, and groans of frustration when they realized this wasn´t close enough. That is until Draco moved into her. Eva threw her head back, feeling more complete and whole than she had in a long time. He buried his face on the crook of her neck, savoring her, and breathing hard against her smooth skin sending shivers down her spine. She heard him call her name, and she knew she was calling his, as they finally were where they belonged. Together, like this. Nothing else was important anymore.

Time seemed to stop, only for a little while. There was no pain, no mark, no anger, just them.

They laid on the cold floor, holding each other closer than ever before. Draco wrapped his arms around her as she rested her head on his shoulder, not wanting to move or ever leave. His long graceful fingers tracing patterns against the skin of her leg, her own brushing through his blond hair. He looked at her with love, but Eva noticed how something was missing in him, and silently wondered if it would ever be the same with him. If the Draco she´d known and loved would ever come back, or if he´d remain marked forever.

Would _they_ ever be the same?

That´s when it hit her, he was still marked. She had feared looking at it, which is why she kept her eyes locked on his at all times, but once Draco made an attempt to hide his arm away she held it with her own hands, detaching herself from his embrace. His breath caught on his throat, and his eyes broke a little more, but she didn´t stop. And then, she saw it. For the first time she saw it, and she couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her face once more. The pale skin of his forearm had been marked with the most horrible symbol of death. The Dark Mark spreading through his skin like a disease, she could almost feel the hate and pain emerging from it. Draco tried to pull away, and Eva realised he was crying too, silent tears falling down the sides of his face as he looked away in shame.

She felt a pang of guilt fill her, she´d been so angry with him for taking the mark, for risking his life, she never once stopped to think how hard it must´ve been for him.

As soon as Draco announced he would join the Death Eaters and become an double agent for the Order, Eva lost it. She pushed him away, knowing she wouldn't be able to see him like this. For the past few months, she´d avoided him, seeing him grieve and deteriorate from a distance. It wasn´t until she stopped seeing him at all when she worried and went looking for him. She regretted leaving him, she regretted every second he had to suffer on his own.

Willing herself to stop crying, Eva leaned closer to his arm and kissed it. Draco´s breath hitched when he felt her soft lips coming into contact with the stained skin. And only for a second, he couldn't feel it´s darkness.

He brought himself up, facing her, as she broke away and looked at him with pain and guilt written all over her face.

"I´m so sorry." She whispered, barely audible. And with that he brought her lips to his, in a soft, forgiving kiss.


	13. Battle of The Astronomy Tower

**Battle Of The Astronomy Tower**

 _Sixth Year_

Draco dreaded the moment his mission would end. Albus had told him to do everything the Dark Lord asked him to do, but suddenly, standing in the cold room facing the old dark wardrobe, he found he couldn't bring himself to do it. How could he let Death Eaters into Hogwarts? Into the place that has been more like a home to him than the manor? He had tried to contact Dumbledore, tell him that he wouldn't follow through, and he didn't care what punishment the Dark Lord gave him, but he hadn´t been there.

Instead, he was greeted by his godfather Severus Snape, having anticipated this reaction from Draco. He tried to calm him down, tried to talk him into going through with the plan. But Draco had stormed out of Dumbledore´s office and straight to the Room of Requirement, his mind set one single thing. Destroy the wardrobe.

He had crossed the doors in a single stride, and found his way to it without even thinking. He´s done this so many times since he first arrived to Hogwarts, he could find the wardrobe even if he didn't want to. He stopped, finally facing the horrid thing.

He felt his heart beating against his ear, a nervous shake taking over his hand. What would happen to him if he failed? What would the Dark Lord do to him, to his family?

His family…he laughed morbidly, if they loved him they wouldn´t have volunteered him for such a mission. He sometimes wondered if his own parents would choose him over power, over recognition, over Voldemort. He didn't want to know the answer to that.

Taking one deep breath, he muttered the words with every ounce of hate he had in his body, " _Bombarda_!"

The thing exploded, sending Draco a few steps back, even making a few piled up chairs fall around them, but once the mess cleared out, it remained intact.

" _Confringo_!" It burst into flames, but cleared soon afterwards. No damage done. Draco breathed heavily, he had to destroy this thing. He remembered the day he met Voldemort, and sat down before him, pledging loyalty. He remembered throwing up after that, and lying pitifully on the cold bathroom floor.

" _Bombarda Maxima!"_

The memory of his the day he got the dark mark flashing before his eyes. 'Such an honor' his aunt Bellatrix had said, as she caressed the mark with such devotion, more devotion and love than she had ever shown Draco in his life. He hated the thing the moment he got it, hated the burn on his skin, hated the sick wrenching feeling he got whenever he looked at it.

 _"_ _Diffindo!"_

'You´ll make us proud Draco' his father had told him. Draco wished he hadn´t said those words, it only proved how little they really cared for him. What kind of father would risk his son's life for another wizard? A dark wizard.

 _"_ _Evanesco! Expulso!"_

"It won´t work." The words of Severus filled the air, as he promptly walked towards the aggravated blond. Draco heaved, grasping his wand like his life depended on it. Angry tears falling down his face as he wiped them off with violence.

"I can´t! I won´t!" He shouted incoherently, not facing the professor. "I won´t let them in!"

"You have no choice." Severus was alarmingly calm, which finally made Draco face him. He stood there, in the shadows, his expression impassible.

"You want them in." Draco whispered dangerously. Pointing his wand at the man. "You made and Unbreakable Vow with my mother."

Severus for once, showed surprise at the words of the young Malfoy, sneering at him.

"Yes, I know of it. I know you vowed to protect me. "

At least he knew about the vow, but not about the true purpose of it, Severus thought and sighed. Draco had no idea what the Vow was really about. He didn´t know Snape had promised to finish the task if Draco failed to do so.

"I won´t let them in, I´ll stop this, and then there will be nothing to protect me from." He spoke as if trying to make Severus make some sense of his actions. "I just have to destroy it."

Snape looked at his godson, and felt his pain. Draco was shaking, every nerve of his body raging with anew fury. Such terrible things for a young boy like him to be feeling, what a horrible weight he had over his shoulders. Snape cared for the boy, he´d learnt to respect him and appreciate him since he chose to join the Order. He was no coward, Draco, he was brave. Braver than Snape could ever be.

"Go." Severus whispered, pulling his wand from the inner pocket of his robes. "I´ll take care of this, you go, meet Albus at the Astronomy Tower."

Draco hesitated for a second, before the man snapped once again. "Go!"

And with that, Draco took off, sprinting away towards the Astronomy Tower hoping his plan would pan out. Little did he know that the moment Severus found himself alone, he opened the cabinet Draco had repaired over the course of the year, allowing the rest of the Death Eaters inside. He had to finish the task, he had to finish it, and he was glad Draco had no part in it.


	14. Battle Of The Astronomy Tower Pt 2

_Author here! The next few One-Shots will be about Draco and Eva, and how they tried to cope with the upcoming war. I hope you have noticed that i don´t really change what happens in the books, i don´t try to change the outcomes and deaths, just change Draco´s role and participation in them._

 _Hope you´re enjoying so far, and remember! Reviews are always welcomed! If you feel like i missed a mayor event, let me know!_

* * *

 **Battle of The Astronomy Tower**

 _Sixth Year_

Draco sat down at the Astronomy Tower, his eyes fixated in the shining blinking stars. He didn´t stare at them with awe, it mas more of a jealous glare, why did they get to stare down at the world, silently judging, whilst he had to go through all this shit.

"Sickle for your thoughts?" A voice whispered from behind him, his eyes darted over his shoulder in time to catch Eva, carefully approaching him with a sweet shadow of a smile. "What´s wrong?"

He turned on his heels, facing her entirely. His eyes sad and thoughtful as his arms curled around her waist pulling Eva´s small frame closer to him. Her hands pressed against his chest, trying to get a better look of his face under the deem moonlight.

Everything is wrong, he thought, the events of the night before were still painfully fresh in his mind.

How could Severus, his own godfather, kill Dumbledore? He´d stupidly believed he was trying to help him with the cabinets, he had trusted him. But then he had seen him at the Tower, pointing his wand at Dumbledore without hesitation.

He had tried so hard to stop him, stepping between them with his own wand drawn. He couldn't let him do it; if Albus died the war would be lost. Professor Dumbledore´s wand in Snape´s hand, Draco had managed to disarm his godfather, but somehow he had gotten a hold of the stunned Death Eater´s wand before Draco could stop him.

He remembered watching Professor Dumbledore falling back into the empty space, how he froze, horrified, knowing that it had all been a trap.

Without saying another word, he dipped his head towards Evangeline and met her lips with his own in a soft, tender kiss. Whoever knew Draco would have thought he was unable of such softness and delicacy, but not Eva. She was familiar with this side of him, and she loved him a little more every time he allowed his walls to break down in front of her.

She let him take over the kiss, as he gingerly nibbled at her lower lip, a content moan escaping her. She enjoyed this quite moments with him, although her worry took the best of her and she finally pulled enough will force to break the kiss.

She rested her forehead against his, watching him intently although he kept his eyes shut, biting his lips as if trying not to scream. "Draco." She whispered, pouring her worry into her voice. "Talk to me."

He shook his head, finally meeting her golden eyes, they shone so bright, almost like they had light of their own, a pair of tiny capsuled suns. His heart broke, when the thought of not seeing them ever again crossed his mind. It was areal possibility, and he hated that.

"Stay." He finally spoke, his breath brushing against her nose. "Please, don´t go. Stay here."

Eva finally understood what all of this was about. Yesterday, Snape had murdered Professor Dumbledore, right in front of Draco himself, as he tried desperately to stop him. It broke him, broke his trust, but he also knew that now that Dumbledore was dead, actions had to be made. The war had officially started, and Draco was leaving to join the Order. Eva was part of it too, and she would leave with him, even though he kept trying to stop her.

Besides, she wasn´t leaving Draco after he had openly claimed his loyalty to Dumbledore and Harry in last night´s battle. He hadn´t just defended Dumbledore in front of Snape and the other Death Eaters, he´s also stood against his own Aunt when she tried to attack Evangeline. She had never seen him so infuriated, almost like he loathed her. Like he loathed his own family.

No, she thought, she couldn´t leave him, Merlin knows what his family would do to him now that he had officially changed sides.

"I have to." She cooed, placing a loving hand on the side of his face, he leaned against the warmth of her touch. "I can´t sit around and do nothing, Draco. This thing, this war, it involves all of us. It doesn´t matter where I am, where I go, danger will be there."

"I hate your hero complex." He sighed, and Eva laughed without humor. "Potter rubbed it off on you."

"He needs us Draco." She smiled, trying to sound reasonable. Draco let his head fall. He knew she wouldn´t accept, for the same reason he wouldn´t stay himself. Harry needed them, and he hated himself for risking so much for stupid scar face, but over the years he´d grown to care. He couldn´t leave him. And she couldn´t either.

"I know." He whispered back. Then, without another thought, he took Eva´s hand on his and locked eyes with her, the intensity of the recent events and the ones to come flowing through his ice cold grey eyes. "I want you to make a promise, tonight."

Eva looked at him, frowning, although she was confused the answer was very clear. "Anything."

"Promise we´ll be together, on this day next year. That no matter what happens we will always go back to each other." Eva looked at him with hopeful eyes, tears forming at the base. "Promise me that we will always be together."

A tear rolled down Eva´s cheek, the amount of love she felt for the man before her was too much for her heart to handle. "If it were in my hands, we´d be together for eternity."

Draco smiled, brushing away the silent tear and kissing the trail it left. "An Eternity isn´t nearly enough."


	15. My Baby Girl

**_Author here! I´m typing this in bold because it is IMPORTANT. I wrote a few bits in french for this one, hopefully they´re grammatically correct, for those who do know french let me know how i did! And for those that do not, I´ll leave the translations at the end. Actually, do let me know about my english as well, i´m sure i´ve been making some mistakes here and there, my first language is Spanish so...yeah. Anyways._**

 ** _Enjoy! 3_**

* * *

 **My Baby Girl**

 _Sixth Year_

Eva squeezed Draco´s hand on her own, taking on every bit of support he provided for her. She was scared, to say the least, and had no idea how this would pan out.

They had apparated at Eva´s home, where her mother currently lived with her boyfriend, the man that had originally given her a job at the ministry, Elias Montgomery. He was good to her, Eva thought with a smile, they were getting married next year, and her mother- well her mother was now very pregnant with Eva´s little half brother. It was weird, she´d always been an only child, but then again, she was happy if her mother was happy.

Both lived in Ottery St Catchpole, very close to Luna´s home, in a big patch of green grass, and tall oak trees, surrounding the airy two story white cottage. It resembled her great aunt´s house back in the States, Eva knew her mother had grown fond of the place and tried to replicate it back here. Behind the house stretched a long field of strawberries, enchanted to grow in the area even if they shouldn't be able to, as well as a nice little orchard. It was Eva´s favourite part of the house, because it had a garden table and two chairs where her mother and her used to eat breakfast every day. Draco walked beside her, taking in the simplicity of Eva´s home.

He´d known about her bloodline, Eva told him two years ago, how she descended from a well-known French pure blood family, the Duroi. And her mother, although banished, also belonged to another French pure blood family, the Beaumont. Making Eva the offspring of two very powerful and recognized families, not that Draco cared. To him, Eva was whoever she wanted to be, regardless of her family. Still, having heard from her mother´s reputation and respected lineage, he didn't expect them to live in an old cottage.

Beside him, he noticed Eva grew tense the closer they got to the house.

"Ready?" Draco asked Eva, she sighed. She chose to wear a nice short lilac dress, with small sewn flowers, a gift from her late great aunt. Her long, wavy hair that now nearly reached her hips braided over her shoulder, a few tufts gone loose. Draco silently appreciated her, taking in her elegant and carefree look, even though he knew it was only a façade. An attempt to appear normal and calm. She looked up at him, meeting his beautiful silver eyes, and smiled.

They stepped into the front porch, a single rocking chair moving in the wind. Eva inhaled long and steady, before raising her hand and knocking on her mother´s door.

They waited, for about 2 mintues, before a tall thin man around his 40s stepped out. He had brown curly hair, long and tied at the nape of his neck. His face clean and shaved, long face and curious black eyes. Elias, Draco thought. The man was still dressed on his ministry robes, holding a cup of tea on his right hand. Eva smiled kindly, and Elias´eyes widened when he realized she was actually here.

"Angie!" he exclaimed, a broad grin spreading on his face as he enveloped Eva in a tight hug. Draco tried not to laugh, knowing how much Eva hated to be called Angie. "We didn´t expect you so soon!" he then acknowledged Draco standing next to Eva, his hand holding hers. "You must be Angie´s boyfriend, Draco Malfoy."

Draco was surprised at how naturally the man said his name. Usually it made people wary, and more often it made people throw empty threats at him for his parent´s actions. He was used to it, he didn´t pay them much attention, but this had certainly surprised him.

"Yes, nice to meet you Mr. Montgomery." Draco nodded politely, extending a hand towards the man. He took it and gripped firmly before letting go, his smile never leaving his face.

"Come on in, Lucy is at the kitchen right now!"

"Thanks, Elias." Eva smiled, as she crossed the front door and made her way towards the kitchen. Her house was exactly the same as she remembered. The walls and floors made of light brown wooden panels, white rimmed windows with various flowers growing at the base of each one, the small baby blue living room, with colorful coffee table which currently had a basket piled up with dirty laundry, and the staircase to her right spiraling all the way up to where two rooms were located. Eva figured, her old room would have to be cleared out for the baby…if there was a home to come back to at all. She smiled sadly, and moved her eyes through the various framed pictures scattered around the house, pictures of her, her mother and great Aunt playing in the snow, Eva´s first Christmas, her mother´s 25th birthday, so many good memories.

"Evangeline?" Eva´s mother emerged from the kitchen. Draco then realized Eva looked very little, yet so much like her mother, it was hard for him to decide. Eva´s mum was young, on her 30´s, very thin and long with aristocratic posture. She wore a yellow dress, like something Professor Trelawney would wear, accentuating her growing pregnant belly, her hair up in a curly messy knot. Unlike Eva, her hair was light brown, and she had very small blue eyes. She was pretty, Draco thought, but nothing too special. Eva was a lot more exotic. With her dark long hair, tanned skin and bright golden eyes. Even though their hair color, eye color and skin color didn't match at all, Eva´s face resembled her mother´s to an uncanny level. She was definitely her mother alright.

Eva´s mum, Lucille, grinned so bright at the sight of her only child and crossed the room to embrace her with enthusiasm, bumping Eva slightly with her 6-month-old baby bump. "Evangeline, _mon choupette!"_

Eva rolled her eyes under her mother´s arms and grumbled, even though she looked as happy as her mother did. " _Ne m´apelle pas ça, maman."_

Draco was taken by surprise for the second time in less than 5 minutes. I guess, considering she was from a French family, he should´ve figured Eva spoke french. Yet, it never occurred to him to ask. Hearing her speak in french sent a chill down Draco´s spine. Is it weird that it turned him on? He thought, no…perhaps it was strange given the situation. He wondered how many things she could say in french, and decided to find out later tonight …Draco shook his head, smiling slightly, trying to keep a cool head.

Eva´s mum broke away from her, grinning at her daughter and caressing her cheek before finally looking at Draco.

"Oh, I take it you must be Draco?" Lucille smirked and him, making Draco uncomfortable all of the sudden for his strange, and definitely inappropriate thoughts. He notices though that Lucille spoke with no hint of an accent.

"Pleasure." He flashed his best winning smile, successfully hiding his obvious embarrassment, and lightly shook her extended hand. "You´ve got a lovely home, Mrs. Beaumont."

Lucille eyed Eva, and winked at her. " _Il est_ _beau_ _et a du charme._ " Then proceeded to look back at Draco with a known smile, not taking her hand away from his. "Pleasure is all mine."

Eva rolled he eyes again, to what Lucille smacked her arm for. "Don´t roll you eyes at me young lady. I´m your mother."

Eva rubbed the spot where her mother´s hand had landed and giggled childishly; Draco smiled, realizing just how light and easy their relationship was. He guessed that´s what happened when you had a daughter at 15.

Or when you mother was´t involved with dark affairs.

" _Maman,_ " Eva called for her mother´s attention after a few seconds. Lucille had retrieved her hand from Draco´s and was now joined by her boyfriend, who lightly rubbed her stomach before placing a hand over her shoulder. "I need to talk to you, it´s important."

Eva lead her mother and her boyfriend to the kitchen without another word, Draco following close behind. He knew it would be hard for her, doing this, which is why he was determined to not leave her side.

Once they were there, she shot him a doubtful look, to what Draco smiled reassuringly. He took a step closer to her and placed his hand over hers, resting them above the counter.

She explained the situation to them, even though they already knew about Dumbledore´s death and Voldemort´s return. Lucille had been reluctant to let Eva go back to Hogwarts, but she somehow managed to convince her. She was also aware of her daughter taking a part of a secret group called the Order of the Phoenix; she´d visited herself and aided Molly with various things around the Burrow, seeing as they lived relatively close. Draco watched as Lucille´s face paled the longer Eva talked, brows deeply furrowed. She was now explaining her plans. Her plans of joining the Order for good, and helping Harry.

"What are you saying?" She asked Eva in a whisper. Draco watched as Eva gripped the white marble counter until her knuckles went white. He knew it was taking all of her not to break down crying. He started rubbing circles on her hand with his thumb, trying to calm her down.

"I´m joining the Order _maman_ , for real this time. I´m joining the fight."

Lucille´s eyes widened, as she very slowly dropped her gaze to the ground. Eva waited, until Elias spoke up, obviously mortified. "You can´t do that Angie, it´s not safe!"

Eva took a deep breath, trying to remind herself that Elias was practically family, and was only tying to protect her. "No, Elias, it is not. But then again, nowhere is. Not since Albus Dumbledore died and Voldemort remained standing" She didn´t flinch when she said the Dark Lord´s name, but Elias did, and her mother was too deep in thought to even react. Eva looked back to her mother, eyes pleading. " _Maman,_ I have to do this. I can´t just hide and watch my friends risk their lives."

Lucille shook her head, her hand instinctively going to her swollen stomach. "No, no. I won´t let you. It´s too dangerous."

Eva sighed. "Well, I'm turning 17 next month. I won´t need your permission anymore." Her words cut through her mother like knives. Eva didn't want to say it, she silently wished her mother would agree easily, but she had not.

Lucille stood up, throwing her chair back with a loud screech " _Non! Tu ne risqueras pas ton vie comme ça! Et c´est final!"_

Eva raised her chin defiantly, looking deeply broken hearted but also very determined. " _Maman, c´est ne pas ton décision. Il est le mien."_

Lucille was in the middle of leaving the kitchen, when she caught her daughter´s eye. She had never seen such strength in her. Her eyes, her father´s golden eyes, burning with intense determination. It broke her heart to see her like this. So young, so tormented. Her mind took her back to the day she found out she was pregnant with her, she´d been so young too. Her family had cut her off entirely, but she hadn´t been scared, cause she had a miracle growing inside her, a little piece of life. Once she held her in her arms, her beautiful baby girl, once her golden honey eyes met hers, she had sworn to do everything in her power to keep her from harm. Now, she was here, the same golden-eyed baby, willingly throwing herself in the line of fire to protect her friends.

A single tear rolled down her cheek, her chest wrenched in a painful knot, as she silently approached Evangeline. Draco let go of Eva´s hand and stepped back, joining Elias at the other side of the counter.

"I wouldn´t forgive myself if anything happened to you." She cooed, cupping her cheek into her open hand, looking at her with loving eyes. Eva closed hers in an attempt to keep her own tears from falling, softly leaning closer to her mother´s touch.

"You can´t protect me from this _maman._ Not this." She whispered.

Lucille smiled sadly. " _Ma fille chèrie, mon ange."_ Her voice was shaking with sorrow, although her eyes showed the great love she had for her baby girl. Eva locked eyes with her mother´s, remembering the many nights they spent together, how she curled inside her embrace and let her sing her to sleep. She´d say those very words to her every night before she went to sleep. But now, they were almost like she was saying goodbye. " _Tu es ma vie, Evangeline. Ma vie entier. Mon cœur. Dites-moi, est-ce que je pourrais vivre sans mon cœur?"_

Eva broke down in tears, her face shaking as her mother´s words sank deep into her heart, feeling her with immense guilt for causing her such pain. Draco, and Elias, looked at the scene with sad eyes. Mother and daughter... saying goodbye.

 _"_ _Je t´aime, maman Plus que tout. Mais, je dois le fair, on ne peut plus rebrousser chemin. Je dois me battre. Tout va bien aller, et cuand ce sera fini, je reviendrai avec vous. Je te promets."_

Lucille threw her arms around her daughter holding her for dear life, knowing that no matter what she said, Evangeline was set on doing this. And she wouldn't change her mind. With tears running down her eyes, she looked at Draco, who remained on his place beside a sympathetic Elias, by the largest window. Lucille realized why this young man had captivated her daughter, shining against the sunlight like an angel.

"Would you take care of her? Would you protect her?" she asked him, and Draco didn´t hesitate once when he nodded.

"I love your daughter, I promise you, I will give my life to protect hers." Those weren´t just easy words to say, Lucille realized, but this man in front of her, this brave young man, had said them like they came from the very depth of his heart. She smiled at him, feeling a great weight being lifted from her.

Maybe she wouldn't be there to protect her daughter anymore, maybe she wouldn´t be able to stop her, but now she had someone else looking after her.

She then looked over at her daughter, not letting go of her face, and smiled. How brave, and how strong she´d become. Her little beautiful fragile baby, was now a warrior of her own.

* * *

 **TRANSLATION**

 ** _Mon choupette_** _:_ nickname for females. Literally means my cabbage.

 ** _Ne m´apelle pas ça, maman_** _:_ Don´t call me that, mum.

 ** _Maman_** _:_ mum.

 ** _Il est_** ** _beau_** ** _et a du charme_** _:_ He´s handsome, and charming.

 ** _Non! Tu ne risqueras pas ton vie comme ça! Et c´est final!_** _:_ No! You won´t risk your life like that! And that´s final!

 ** _Maman, c´est ne pas ton décision. Il est le mien_** _:_ Mum, it´s not your decision. It´s mine.

 _ **Ma fille chèrie, mon ange**_ : My baby girl (my dear daughter), my angel.

 _ **Tu es ma vie, Evangeline. Ma vie entier. Mon cœur. Dites-moi, est-ce que je pourrais vivre sans mon cœur?**_ : You´re my life, Evangeline. My entire life. My heart. Tell me, could I live without my heart?

 _ **Je t´aime, maman Plus que tout. Mais, je dois le fair, on ne peut plus rebrousser chemin. Je dois me battre. Tout va bien aller, et cuand ce sera fini, je reviendrai avec vous. Je te promets**_ : I love you, mum. More than anything. But I have to do this, there´s no going back. I have to fight. Everything´s going to be fine, and when this is over, I´ll come back to you. I promise.


	16. As Long As They're Together

**As Long As They´re Together.**

 _Summer 1997, a week after Dumbledore´s death_

Draco and Eva staid at her mother´s for a couple more days, as they wouldn't be seeing each other until…well….they didn´t know. Draco had tried to leave, but Lucille refused to let him go, she said he was a part of the family now. Draco´s heart raced every time he remembered that.

Eva and him were currently sitting on her room, and Draco had found himself fascinated by every aspect of it. Her room was very much like every other room in the house, airy white walls and dark wooden panels in the floor, with a single large window seat taking almost over an entire wall. Her bed was large, with white fluffy sheets and covered by a sheer white canopy. The amount of pillows on it made him laugh, she could barely fit in the bed at all with all those pillows piled up. Funny thing was that none of them matched, they were all different in size and color. Her walls were clear except for the one with the window, which had a least a dozen different dreamcatchers on it, and a single painting of Venus hung on the right side. One wall had several long shelves piled up with books to the point where Draco wondered how they could hold. Much to his surprise, Eva had an old wooden record player right on the corner, several records leaning against it. It was currently playing soft muggle tune that Draco secretly loved, but had made sure to complain about it, openly stating how pathetic it was. He listened to it form his place at the window seat, leaning against the cushions as he stared outside. Eva sat on a wooden rocking chair Draco figured must have been her mother´s, and read an old copy of a muggle novel. It was so worn out half the book detached itself and fell on her lap. She mindlessly placed it on the shelf and continued reading.

Her mother and Elias had gone off to the ministry earlier today after breakfast, finishing up a few things at Elias´office before they took off to France. Eva had convinced her that the house was no longer safe, and they needed to go away for a while. Lucy tried to complain, but she was reminded of the baby she was carrying, and reluctantly complied, crying. There had been a lot of crying from her part since they first arrived, she blamed it on the hormones.

Draco finally sighed and turned his head towards Eva. She was deeply absorbed into her lecture, legs crossed covered with an old grey blanket, and wearing Draco´s oversized jumper. She bit her lip from time to time, and licked her finger before turning the page.

He couldn't stop looking at her, he would never have enough of Evangeline. Everything she did, everything she was, it amazed him. He took every detail of her in. That is of course until she spoke up, eyes still running through the words on the page.

"Stop it." Her voice came out soft, but slightly annoyed. Draco frowned.

"What?"

"Stop staring at me." She continued, turning the page and sighing. "You´re making me nervous."

Draco smirked, and promptly threw his arms behind his head, leaning back against the window frame. "Do I make you nervous?"

She huffed, and tilted her head to the side. "That´s what I just said."

Draco stood up, his hand behind his back as he took long, slow strides towards her. Once he was beside her, he stopped and looked down. After a while of intense staring, Eva sighed and looked up, slamming her beaten book and throwing it into the bed. No wonder it was in that deplorable state.

"What do you want?"

Draco grinned, she was acting annoyed but he knew she secretly loved the sudden attention. "Let´s go outside." He said, taking her by surprise. She shot her brows up and then frowned.

"What for?"

Draco shrugged, and opened the door, making his way out to the orchard. Eva stood up too and followed him outside, a grin growing on her own face. He never imagined having Draco over at her house, but it felt so right.

They crossed the back door and stepped into the fresh backyard, the sweet scent of strawberries hitting Eva in the face and sending memories flooding into her mind. When she had first arrived, she spent a lot of time here, reading mostly, as her mother tended to the fields. Sometimes she would help her pick out the ripe apples. She followed Draco into the fruit loaded trees, and noticed how her mother had added oranges, and peaches.

She reached out to the nearest one and picked an orange, before tossing it to Draco who caught it expertly, his seeker reflexes kicking in.

"It´s beautiful out here." He breathed, looking around. He seemed so surreal, wearing only a white fitted shirt and jeans, his usually slick and neat hair wind tossed in a way that made his long fringe fall right above his eyes. So not like the Draco she knew when they first met.

Eva smiled and followed him deep into the orchard, finally plopping under the shade of an apple tree. She laid down on her back, head resting on his lap as he peeled the orange and handed half of it to her. They stayed like that for a while, Eva´s eyes closed as she simply enjoyed this moment, Draco´s eyes however were pinned to her, watching as the leaves casted shifting shadows over her calm and relaxed face.

If only they could stay like this forever, he thought. He could see himself like this, living in a small cottage, with endless rows of trees, with Eva going out every morning to pick out the ripe fruit as their kids ran outside chasing after their dog. Kids, Draco thought with a smile, he really wanted to have kids of his own with Eva, he wanted to have a whole Quidditch team. Would he be a good father though? After all, he didn't have a model father to look up to.

"What are you thinking about?" Eva asked, and Draco noticed she was looking up at him with worried eyes. He bit on his lip for a while before deciding there was no harm on being honest about this. After all, if he wanted to have children, it would be with her and no one else.

"Do you think I would be a good father?" He asked hesitantly, and Eva widened her eyes for a second. Why was he thinking of this?

Then, upon seeing his actual worry over the question, she smiled and reached out to ruffle his hair. "I think, when the time comes, you´ll be a great father."

"How? I didn't have a good father growing up, how would I know what to do?"

Eva was shocked by the sudden change of priorities. She figured that they he had to worry about surviving the war before starting to worry about kids altogether. But then her mind changed, and she realized this was good. Yes, it was good, if he thought about such a far away future, it meant he was sure he would survive the war.

"Well, think about it this way." She pondered, biting on her orange "You´ll know exactly what NOT to do."

Draco grinned and chuckled before rolling his eyes at her. Eva joined in, her own eyes twinkling with joy.

"Where did that come from?" Eva finally asked, and Draco sighed.

"I want a life with you Eva." He said so naturally and convinced, like she was talking about something certain. "That´s all that keeps me going, the thought of having a whole life ahead to spend with you."

Eva looked at him with awe, and smiled the widest and happiest of smiles, her heart warming up and swelling to the point it felt like it was going to burst out of her chest.

"There´s nothing I want more than that." She cooed leaned back against him, closing her eyes as he ran his slender fingers through her hair.

It felt so strange, having this kind of thoughts, and being so overall relaxed when there was an obvious war coming their way. But they didn't mind, they wanted to hold on to this moment of calm and enjoy it as much as they could.

They were so focused on themselves though, that neither one noticed Lucille and Elias walking into the house, watching them through the kitchen window.

"I think he´s the one." Elias admitted with a soft smile, holding Lucille´s hand as she nodded, "I had my doubts at first, when she told me who he was, the Malfoys don´t have a great reputation preceding them."

Lucille sighed. "I never doubted him. My daughter knows how to bring the best in people, she did for me even before she was born. I had no doubt that she would do the same for him."

"Will she be alright?" Elias finally asked, worry taking over his face. Lucille smiled at her fiancé, and caressed his cheek. From the moment he came into her life he´d shown such deep love for Eva, almost like she was his own. She knew how much it bothered him what she´d told them yesterday.

"She will be, she´s got him." Lucille reassured him, and herself. She looked out the window once more and smiled at them. "He loves her so much, he´s good for her, and she´s good for him. Since he walked into the front door I could feel it, I could feel his protectiveness. It was the kind of protectiveness one only feels for the one they love, like they want to shield them from the world." Elias looked at her with a glint of understanding as she continued to speak, her voice convinced. "They will be alright, as long as they´re together."


	17. Eight Potters

**Eight Potters**

 _July 27th, 1997_

How did he agree to this, Draco thought. No, he didn't agree, she made him agree. Draco had volunteered to help in the evacuation of Harry from the Dursley´s, little did he know Eva, AKA his constant headache, would volunteer as well. No, he knew she´d volunteered, he just hoped they were out the door before she found out. Of course, she had made Draco agree with her tagging along. She was of age, she kept arguing, she could make her own decisions. And she was, in fact, she was also a very capable witch. Better even than a few members of the Order. So why did he always worry so much about her being in danger?

That wasn´t all Draco complained about agreeing on. He also kept asking himself, how did they manage to convince him to ride this beast? Everyone got brooms, some got thestrals, creatures that Draco had just been able to see due to witnessing Dumbledore´s death, there was even a Motorcycle for crying out loud. But no, of course, Draco had to get the hippogriff. And not just any hippogriff, but the one that he had almost gotten killed, Hagrid´s pet Buckbeak, or Witherwings as it has been renamed. Still, Draco preferred Buckbeak.

He thought it might be some sick joke from the half Giant, but had to agree anyways. He figured a broom would be more appropriate, seeing as he was the most skilled to ride one than anyone else in the group, after all he had been a seeker for years. Yet somehow, by some strange otherworldly power, the feathered horse had 'bonded' with Draco, and refused to be ridden by anyone else, but him. Apparently, breaking one´s arm meant it liked you.

Eva had laughed, she hadn´t arrived at Hogwarts yet when Draco met the giant bird for the first time, but found it amusing to see how it nuzzled him and picked on the blonde's hair like a mother tending to a chick.

"It likes yeh." The Hagrid had smartly pointed out with thundering laughter.

Draco grumbled, ignoring the snickers form those around him. "Shut up already." He groaned, making everyone laugh even more.

The good mood died soon afterwards, as they took flight towards Harry´s house. He´d successfully been paired with Eva, who clung to his waist as the giant bird soared above the clouds. Draco had never ridden the thing, he realized to late into the game, but soon found out it was such a liberating experience. He could feel each breath, each movement it made. It was fascinating.

"Growing on him, are you?" Eva shouted above the loud sound of the wind rushing past their ears. He turned around, only to be met by Eva´s teasing smirk. He rolled his eyes and ignored her, leaning forwards on it´s neck and enjoying whatever peace they had left.

Draco could finally see the house, and he realized with awe how he´d never really known where Harry lived. It was a small house, but nice. Not at all Draco´s style, but nice.

Harry greeted them at the entrance, teasing Draco momentarily on his choice of ride. He didn´t have time to make his usual sarcastic remark, as he had been ushered into the empty room by Moody.

"We'll go in pairs. That way, if there's anyone out there waiting for us, and I reckon there will be, they won't know which Harry Potter is the real one." Moddy said, as everyone shifted around goin got their respective partner.

Harry looked around, concerned. "The real one?"

Moody tok a flask from the inside of his coat "I believe you're familiar with this particular brew?"

Eva leaned closer to Draco once the pairings had been mentioned. They debated over who would be Harry, and agreed that it should be him. He was a skilled dueler, but then again so was Eva. He knew how the Death Eaters attacked, and knew that as soon as they spotted him, they´d target them. Maybe not because of Harry, but to get revenge over him being a blood traitor. The Weasley twins, who´d grown to like Draco and his dry dark sense of humor, offered to go their separate ways and pair up each with him and Eva. But Moody had decided against it. Ever since Draco´s arrival to the Order at the end of the school year, Moody had gone out of his way to personally work with him. They traded knowledge on how the Death Eater worked, on their attacks, their weaknesses. Draco could only say he´d grown to like the old man, and he trusted him more than he ever thought he could. And Moody had also been around enough to notice Draco and Eva worked better together.

"It´s too dangerous, there´s got to be another way!" Harry protested for the tenth time, to which Draco rolled his eyes.

"It´s the safest way Potter. Believe me I tried to find another one." He admitted, recalling last night´s argument with Remus and Moody over other possible escape routes: apparition, Harry´s cloak, anything other than risking their lives. They had pointed out though how those were there more obvious ways, and Voldemort would probably be expecting it.

"I won´t do this." Harry grumbled, but Eva stepped forward and placed a calming hand over his shoulder, meanwhile, everyone else were getting ready to change into Harry´s clothes.

"It´ll be alright, we volunteered. Besides, you taught us how to defend ourselves remember? Have a little faith."

Hermione joined them and hugged Harry tightly. "Harry, we know what we are doing."

Moody called upon those who would be taking the potion. Hermione, Ron, George, Fred, a thief called Mundungus Fletcher, Fleur, and Draco stepped forth. Moody passed it to each one, stopping momentarily in front of Draco.

"It shouldn´t be you, switch with Evangeline." Draco frowned. They´d talked about this.

"They´ll recognize me."

Moody shook his head "They´ll recognize her, I won´t risk anyone taking either of you hostage." He exchanged a look with Eva, who was staring at him with recognition; Draco after all, was a better dueler. Moody motioned towards Tonks, who pointed her wand at Draco. " _Crinus muto"_

Suddenly, Draco´s hair turned dark brown, almost the color of mud. The fringe grew all the way to his eyes, covering half his face. He was about to protest on this sudden change when Tonks stopped him with a wicked grin. "Wait, I´m not done yet, this is the best part." She pointed the tip her wand to his nose, enlarging it. He seemed so foreign, in Eva´s eyes, like a completely different person, but somehow still very handsome.

"Better." Moody agreed and handed over the flask to Eva, who took a swig before Draco could muster a word.

Eva kept staring at him with weird eyes, nose scrunched up by the terrible taste of the potion she´d just taken, to what Draco rolled his eyes. "What?"

Eva shrugged, blushing slightly. "Nothing, you look…rough."

Draco chuckled, a smirk playing in his lips. "Should I make it permanent then?"

Before she could answer though, she began to change, melting away into an exact replica of Potter. Draco frowned confused and muttered "Well aren´t you a sight." Eva/Harry laughed, blushing slightly, which only made Draco wish he never had to see that look on Harry´s face ever again.

"Bill, look away!" he heard Fleur above the noise and rolled his eyes.

"Everyone, get ready to leave!"

Draco placed a hand on the small of Eva/Harry´s back, instantly regretting it as he earned some whistles coming from the Weasley twins.

"Sod off!" Draco groaned over his shoulder, grimacing as he tried not to think of how he looked. Eva however, was having too much fun, clasping her hand to Draco´s, making everyone break into snickers, and Draco blushed redder than he´d ever done in his life.

"Hey, mate. Looking good." Fred/Harry cat called him, as he passed by, and Draco punched his back.

Everyone took their respective places, Draco mounted Buckbeak, leaning over his side to hoist Eva/Harry up. Beside them Bill was already on his thestral with Fleur/Harry already holding on to his waist tightly, on another thestral were Kingsley and Hermione/Harry. Silently, Draco wondered how it must feel to ride something invisible to Fleur, as she hadn´t witnessed death. Behind them were Arthur Weasley and Fred/Harry on a broom, as well as Lupin and George/Harry, Tonks and Ron/Harry, and Moody and Fletcher/Harry. How´d the latter had managed to come up with this plan was beyond Draco.

At the very beginning of the group were Hagrid and Harry, on Sirius´ cycle. Draco looked over at Harry, who was surprisingly looking at him as well. They shared a look, and Draco could see in Harry´s eyes how grateful he was for Draco´s presence, but also how worried he felt for those around him. He tried to reassure him, smirking in his trademark smirk. He couldn´t blame him, Draco felt the same way. He liked these people; they were the closest thing Draco had to a family, surprisingly. He´d spent a couple days on the Lupin´s, where Tonks had presented him to baby Teddy, Draco´s cousin. He´d loved to be there, spending time with the infant, talking about trivialities over dinner, and brewing Snape´s wolfsbane potion for Remus. He´d also learnt a lot from him. As for the Weasley´s, well, they´d 'adopted' him, regardless of how much Draco protested. Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley would hover around him constantly, feeding him and scolding him for his lack of self-care. The twins had found in Draco a good partner in crime, someone they could laugh with and tease those around them. They really liked him, much to everyone´s surprise. Bill had grown closer to Eva, but still maintained a good relationship with Draco. It was because of him that Draco found he rather liked Alchemy. He often sat down with Ginny as well, talking Quidditch for hours. He had a good relationship with all of them, except for Ron, who was still, after all this time, skeptical on Draco´s true intentions.

He felt Eva tugging his shirt, urging him to look over his shoulder, he did, and was met with Harry´s bright emerald eyes instead of her beautiful golden ones. He wished he could see them just this once.

"I love you." She whispered, thankfully her voice remained the same, otherwise Draco would´ve lost his mind.

"I love you too." He replied with a sad smile. He didn´t want to think this was the last time they´d say it to each other, he tried to reassure himself, saying it was only the first times of many to come.

"Remember, do not stop for anything." Moody shouted from behind "Go to your portkeys and be ready for anything!"

Draco felt Buckbeak give an excited screech, startling the Thestrals near him. He gripped at the leather cord around its neck and exhaled, wand in hand. Eva was breathing hard against him, her heart pounding on Draco´s back.

"Good luck." Moody finally said, and everyone took off.

Buckbeak sprinted forward, and everyone around them had to admit, it was an intimidating, and magnificent creature. It took off, unfolding its wings, Draco pressing tight against it´s broad neck as the wind hit them and the force of the takeoff pushed them down.

Eva gasped, feeling the air being knocked out of her lungs, but didn´t let go of Draco, instead she pulled her wand out and readied herself for any attack, and much everyone´s dismay, she didn´t have to wait long.

"Ahead!" she heard someone shout seconds after they´d taken off, the voice wasn´t far, but it had son been muffled by the sound of curses flying past them. Eva didn´t even had time to properly react when a red light flew their way. She tried to move, but Draco was faster, casting a shield around them.

Hell broke lose, chaos surrounded them, they were waiting for them. Eva looked up from over Draco´s shoulder and felt her throat clenching; they were all around them, at least a dozen death eaters circling Buckbeak. Draco was shouting, casting spells fast and accurately causing many Death Eaters to fall back. Buckbeak on the other hand flew with increasing speed, dodging the upcoming attacks.

"Hold on!" Draco shouted above the noise, and Eva only had time to catch Bill and Fleur flying past them, causing a few Death Eaters following Draco and her to go after them. She snapped out of her initial shock, thanking God for having Draco with her. Otherwise, she´d been killed.

She tried to stay steady, which was hard to do at the back of a flying, continuously moving hippogriff, and pointed her wand at the nearest dark shadow.

"Expelliarmus!" she saw it fly away, at the time Draco managed to stun another. He was shaking with adrenaline under Eva´s tight grip as he urged Buckbeak forward. It screeched and clawed angrily, trying to outrun the shadows.

Eva caught form the corner of her eye a green flash of light, missing them by just mere inches. She flinched, and went numb as her entire body paralyzed, the danger had somehow been surreal, the possibility of death had felt so far away, now…it was here, and it had missed them by sheer luck.

"Keep flying!" She shouted at Draco, who´d tried to turn around and attack. Draco did, figuring the faster they got out of there the better. But he was soon intercepted by a very familiar shadow, a familiar white longhaired, grey eyed shadow. His father.

"Avada Kedavra!" He shouted with no hesitation, pointing his wand straight to Eva. Draco panicked, feeling dread above all else as his father attempted to kill the love of his life. He swerved Buckbeak to the side; at the time Eva broke the curse midair. Lights flew between them a duel so quick and violent it nearly caused her to slip off Buckbeak´s back, Draco had tried to aid her but he found himself surrounded once more. He moved his wand, shouting curses and counter-courses before his mind could even process, desperately trying to get them out of there. They were too many, and Draco´s eyes widened in fear as he realized they might not make it.

A curse hit his side, sharp pain exploding over his entire torso. Buckbeak veered upward, alarmed, feeling Draco´s grip tighten around its feathers. He groaned, pushing the pain away, and raised his wand at the attacker. He managed to send him away, but another had slipped past him and pointed his wand directly at Eva.

"Crucio!"

Eva doubled over, a pained growl escaping her contorted face. Draco held her by the arm before she could slip away, although it seemed harder to do considering she was Harry´s build now. He pointed his wand and fired out of instinct, the amount of lights and curses surrounding them now were to many for Draco to actually make out any shapes, he fended himself and Eva from anything that came their way, taking on the defensive rather than the offensive, but somehow, amongst all the chaos, Lucius had managed to break past his shields. He didn´t have time to react, before his own father raised his wand, and from it escaped a single streak of white-hot flames.

In a desperate attempt to protect Eva Draco pointed his wand at Lucius, and blasted him away. But he felt it before he could see it. The suffocating and painful heat of the flames nearly hitting him, brushing against the skin of his arm and the ends of his fringe, but successfully reaching Eva. One single strangled cry escaped her, chilling Draco´s blood. Pain took over his arm, knowing it was burned, but he ignored it, he ignored anything he felt, because nothing could possibly be as painful as what Eva felt. The Death Eaters had retreated thinking they had both died or were mortally injured by Lucius 'curse. They were on their own, but Draco wouldn´t take any chances. Buckbeak shrieked with worry, trying really hard to fly steadily as it finally crossed the barriers of Eva´s mother´s house. It was now abandoned, her mother having left to go to France, but the portkey was waiting for them. Draco was breathing hard, his left side screaming in pain and his arm stinging worse than anything he had felt, the heat of the flames had damaged his sight somehow as he had a hard time focusing on his surroundings, but somewhere on their landing Draco realized with fear that Eva had stopped crying and moving all together. He kept a hold of her arm, gripping it tight, and grasping Buckbeak with the other, bracing for the harsh landing.

Draco slipped off the bird´s back before it could stop and took in Eva´s state with horror. She had transformed back into herself, her face frozen in pain, her entire left side burned, with the clothes melting into her skin all the way from her waist to her neck, the sickly sweet smell of burnt skin hitting Draco in the face. It wasn´t until her body started convulsing that he forcefully pulled himself from his shock and took her in his arms.

Buckbeak emitted a pained whistle, and Draco only had enough time to shoot a grateful glance at the giant beast before he turned, he caught it bowing before taking off. He had gotten them here alive, and for that Draco admired him.

"Hang on Eva, please, hang on." Draco pleaded as he sprinted towards the portkey in the middle of Eva´s now wild and unattended strawberry field. A sudden memory hit Draco, how he had promised Eva´s mother right in this very house to take care of her. He promised he would give his life to protect her…he had failed. Eva shivered against him, as he took a hold of the shaking old bucket, activating just in time to apparate them into The Borrow.

Draco felt the world spinning so fast he almost lost his grip on her. But he didn´t, he couldn´t. He hadn´t gotten over the twisting feeling on his gut when he was already hurrying towards the light of the Burrow, holding Eva hoping she was still with him,

"Help!" He cried out, clinging to her as she convulsed in pain once more, her entire Left side sending a strong cold shiver down Draco´s spine. "Please! She´s hurt!"

Hermione had been the first to spot them, she shouted at the rest of the order that were already gathered around and announced that Draco had finally arrived. Then, they´d heard his cries. ' _She´s hurt!'_. It made Hermione´s blood drop to her feet, Eva was hurt. Harry caught her eye and wasted no time before sprinting towards the source of Draco´s cries for help. He had been pretty banged up himself, and he still hadn´t gotten over his shock of being attacked, but he had to see her. He had to see them. Remus, Tonks, Fred, and Arthur followed him close behind.

The sight was enough to make their stomachs churn in horror. There they were, Draco carrying Eva in his arms, although she looked nothing like herself now. Her entire left body had been scorched, her skin was red and bleeding, raw, her entire body shaking uncontrollably in Draco´s arms, who by the looks of it hadn´t noticed he had a large bloodstain in his side and a similar bur on his arm.

Remus reacted before anyone could, taking Eva´s destroyed body from Draco who looked like he´d collapse in any second. Harry hurried over to his side, placing an arm around him and guiding him inside. Hermione on the other hand, stood in place. Paralyzed by the scene that she´d just witnessed. This was one of her worst fears, all along this was it, loosing someone close.

Ginny gently tugged at Hermione´s arm as they walked back inside, where Eva had regained consciousness and shrieked with so much pain and hurt it made Hermione burst into tears.

"She´s gonna be fine." Ginny reassured her, before leading them back inside.


	18. Eight Potters Pt 2

**Eight Potters Pt.2**

 _July 27th, 1997_

It´d been half an hour since Draco arrived, holding Eva´s devastated body on his arms.

Once they had crossed the doors, Eva had been taken into Ginny´s room, she´d been awake when Remus, Tonks, Kingsley and Mrs. Weasley had started to work on her burns. Draco fell down to his knees when the first cry was heard from upstairs, unable to listen to her in pain. Mr. Weasley had urged him into the couch, closing the bleeding cut that covered almost his entire upper body, and the burn on his arm.

Harry´s heart broke at the sight of his friend, mangled and hurt. He hated himself for putting them in that position, but Hermione was quick to say it hadn´t been his fault. Someone had outted them. That´s where it began.

"It was him!" Ron shouted, crossing the room until he almost had his nose pressed on Draco´s, whose appearance had gone back to normal. Ron took his wand out and pointed it at his throat. "You treacherous scum it was you! You can´t be trusted!"

Ron was hurt, Harry understood. A friend had died, Moody, and his brother was injured, Eva was also dear to him even when he often disagreed on her decisions. Including her decision to date Draco, but this was just too much. Ron had gone too far.

"Ronald!" Hermione shouted, deeply shocked at Ron´s accusations, but it wasn´t that what made Ron stop, it was Draco taking a hold of his shirt and slamming him against the nearest wall, knocking the air out of him. He was exhausted, all of them were, he didn't need anyone pointing fingers at him, not now.

"Shut up!" He spat at his face, anger and pain taking the best of him. "Shut up Weasley or God help me, I´ll kill you!"

Much to Harry´s shock, Ron didn´t stop. Instead, he snarled at him with cruelty. "You´re the reason Eva is up there right now, -"

Ron hadn´t been able to finish the sentence, Draco´s fist connected on his jaw, sending him flying to his left and into the floor. He tried to stand up but Draco was already holding him against the ground. Mr. Weasley, Fred, Bill and Harry stepped between them trying to detangle the infuriated blond. Hermione backed off so fast shenearly knocked over the coffee table, a hand covering her mouth in disbelief. How could Ron say such hurtful things to him? After all he´d been through? Fleur placed her hands over her face, not quite believing what was happening, George had opted to stare at the younger Weasley with disappointment in his face.

"That´s enough!" Arthur shouted above the struggle. Draco, who´d been held back by Bill and Fred snatched his arms away from them and stepped out the room, running frustrated hands through his hair. Both men following behind him.

Harry on the other hand, shoved Ron into the nearest armchair. "It´s the truth, you´re just to blind to see it." Ron´s poisonous tone was the last straw. Arthur looked away, unable to digest the words that came out of his mouth.

"Shut up Ronald!" Hermione shouted, anew tears falling down her face shocking the ginger. "Could you just get over that stupid rivalry!?"

She stomped outside, following Draco out the living room and into the dining room. Harry on the other hand, just stared at Ron with disgust.

"You can´t see it mate, but I can." He explained himself, , but Harry finally had had it with his best friend.

"Do you honestly believe he would do that?" He whispered, every word mouthed as though he was speaking to a kid. "He risked his life out there Ron, He risked his life for my own. He loved Eva and she was there too, do you think he´ll do anything to hurt her?! Are you as heartless and self centered as to believe that of anyone?!" Harry ran a hand through his forehead and turned around, unable to see his friends determined hate. "Now is not the time to start turning on each other."

"I can´t believe you´re siding with him!" Ron shouted after his friend, once he had motioned to move towards Draco. "After all we´ve been through, after all I´ve done for you, you´re taking his side?!"

Harry didn´t dare turn, his fists clenching and nails digging into his palms. George, Fleur, and Arthur had left the room, leaving the two friends to deal with each other.

"I´m not taking sides Ron, there´s not even a side to take! You´re building walls where there shouldn't be any!" He stared ahead, hands shaking. "We´ve lost too much Ron, I know. You´ve given up a normal life by being with me and for that I'm grateful, but this is beyond anything I can tolerate."

Ron looked over at his friend, face falling as he spoke.

"Draco has earned my trust, everyone´s trust. He´s my friend as much as you are. And I hope that you realize that the only bad guy in this room, is you. And it will always be you, until you´re able to look past your stupid hatred."


	19. Plan

**Plan**

 _3 days after battle_

"She knew from the start!" Eva nearly jumped as she pointed an accusatory finger to Hermione's way.

Harry raised both hands in surrender, wincing as he gave a small barely visible nod.

It had been three days since the battle, and Eva looked healed. Rather aggravated, to say the least, but most definitely healed. Her skin was a bit red and sore but overall much better. Draco, on the other hand, looked worse every passing day. Ever since Eva woke up, he'd taken it upon himself to tend to her every need. He woke up in the middle of the night to check on her, it'd gotten so annoying and frequent that Mrs Weasley decided on moving an extra bed to Ginny's room, where Eva was staying, so Draco didn't have to be opening and closing doors at 3 am. Subsequentially, not waking half the house every time he did. He would wake up every three hours to reapply ointment to Eva's burns, refill her glass of water, and make sure she wasn't hurting herself in her sleep. Sweet, many thought, but the tiredness and dark circles under his eyes were getting alarming, thankfully tonight had been Eva's last ointment treatment night.

They currently sat outside, on the field behind the Burrow, Draco to Eva's side, Harry and Hermione facing them. Ron however had been avoiding all of them for days, using the wedding as an excuse, but everyone knew he was still hurt from the fight. He didn't dare look at Draco withot turning red on the face.

Harry had spent most of his time talking to Hermione about their mission, and they decided upon telling Draco and Eva their plans to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes. Draco had shown immediate disgust and anger, but Eva seemed to be pinned on the fact that he hadn't told her sooner.

"Eva..." Draco tried, rubbing a finger on his brow but she remained stubborn.

"She knew! Ron knew! What am I?! The group's renegade?" She crossed her arms tightly on her heaving chest as she glared at a rather scared Harry. "I had a right to know!"

"I didn't want to-" Harry started, facing Hermione rather than a very red faced Eva, who raised a hand to cut him off.

"Let me guess, _you wanted to protect us_ " she mocked, not a hint of amusement in her voice though. "Well who are you to tell me what I can or cannot do? The Chosen One?! Tell you what, Mr. Harry-Want-To-Do-Everything-By-My-Fucking-Self-Potter, not on my standards you're not!" She snapped and Harry leaned backwards. "You're just a self sacrificing idiot! You'd rather have us all safely tucked in and in hiding, risking the entire fate of the wizarding world! Did it ever occur to you that you might actually NEED us?" Harry tried to add something but once more Eva cut him off "No it did not! You secretive butthole!"

Draco was eyeing Hermione, as they both tried their hardest to suppress a smile. Harry had gone pale, it was obviously much less amusing to stand at the receiving end of Eva's insults.

"Now, don't try to say another word or by Merlin I swear I'll make you regret it."

Harry gulped, visibly worried. It was weird, he'd expected her to react the sad or angry, like Hermione. Instead, here she was yelling at him for being stupidly overprotective.

Eva took a deep breath and regained her composure, slowly rearranging her hair before eyeing Hermione.

"Well now that this is all cleared out, what's the plan?"

None of them spoke. Instead, Hermione bit her lip and winced slightly. Eva tried really hard not to lose her temper once more.

"You've got a plan, right?"

Hermione nodded unsurely. "Well, we're going to look for them and destroy them."

Rather obvious, Eva thought. Draco beat her to pointing that out.

"Where are we starting?" Silence...Draco sighed. Eva was right, they were hopelessly Gryffindor. Acting before thinking. "Well do you know what they are?"

Harry managed to sound half convincing when he spoke. "Well, we've already destroyed two, the diary and the ring, we know one of them is Slytherin's locket but the one Dumbledore and I found was, well...fake."

Eva was pretty satisfied, at least they had a lead, the locket.

"Can we see it?" Harry pulled out the green thing from his pocket and placed it on her open palm. She examined it, she'd heard stories about the locket but nothing special, or important. Draco took it from her hand and opened it, a written piece of parchment falling to his lap.

He curiously picked it up and read out loud. "R. A. B." He looked at it, confused, were those initials? Anagrams? A secret code? He was about to ask Harry when it hit him. It hit him like a ton of bricks falling a thousand miles per hour.

"What? What is it?" Hermione was the first to ask, seeing as realization spread across his angular and usually collected features.

"I've heard about those before, the Horcruxes" Harry leaned closer, as Draco spoke with his eyes wide open. "When I was at the Manor last year, I overheard Bellatrix talking to Voldemort about something she was supposed to hide. He's said something about trust and Unbreakable Vows, and he also mentioned her cousin-Regulus Black- betraying him. Taking something from him."

Eva listened as he spoke, curling into herself when Draco opted to call his aunt by her name.

"Regulus Black?" Hermione asked, taking the parchment from him. "He took the original Horcrux?"

Draco nodded. "I suppose, they made a fuss that day, everyone was cleared out of the house, and I was sent away too. But my mum mentioned something about Bellatrix being as snob about being Voldemort's confident as Regulus had been before her."

Harry was still on his place, hands very still. "But Regulus is dead."

Draco nodded. "He is, but the Locket is still out there, Voldemort clearly doesn't have it."

Eva shook her head, unable to grasp how much Draco actually knew. "Well, Regulus must've left some sort of clue right? Maybe he told someone?"

Hermione was anxiously biting on her pinky nail as she listened to Draco. Her mind probably working a million miles per hour.

"A journal" Draco blurted out. "He had a journal, and Bellatrix has it."

"How do you know?" Harry asked, unable to fully acknowledge the fact that they had an actual tangible lead. "Did you see it?"

Draco shook his head. He couldn't believe he actually knew all this. Would things have been different had he told Dumbledore? Maybe he'd still be alive. "Bellatrix spent every waking hour studying the damn thing, she'd lock herself up and wouldn't come out for days."

Eva sighed, they had a lead. A definite lead. Hermione then spoke, her voice raised and excited.

"Well we have to get it!" Draco's head snapped up and he narrowed his eyes at the overly excited bushy haired girl.

"Are you out of your mind, Granger? You won't be able to set foot within a hundred miles of the manor before you're surrounded by death eaters."

Hermione frowned, realizing he had a point. "Well how do we get it then?"

Draco sighed, and Eva felt the words before he said them. "I'll get it."

"You're crazy." Harry snapped, looking flushed. "You do realize that would be suicide right?"

Draco sighed. "Not if I meet with my mother, no."

Eva's breath hitched. Ever since Draco's battle with Bellatrix, he's completely cut himself off his family, it was a long shot even if it was his mother. Who knows how she would react to seeing him again.

"I'd like to believe my own mother won't sell me out to Voldemort." Draco's voice came out strained, more than he would've liked to let on. But soon, he was back to his own careless, confident, extremely tired self. "I'll go get the journal as soon as the wedding is over."

Harry began to complain, stating the many things that could go wrong, but Hermione and Eva exchanged a silent stare. Eva cleared her throat and placed a hand over Draco's thigh, exhaling.

"How will you get in?" Her voice and the way she looked at him made it clear she was backing him up.

Draco looked at her with strange eyes before pursing his lips, probably unsure of where Eva stood on all of this. "There's passages, in the Manor. I can get in through one of them."

"Don't you think they'll be closed? I mean, your father has been living there longer than you have, he'll for sure know where they are and have them secured." Harry frowned, looking at Hermione for backup.

She nodded in agreement. "It's a risky move, Draco. The Manor has always been the main base for death eaters, the place will be crowded."

Draco nodded, then smirked. "I know, which is why I created a secret tunnel when I was still living there. A way in and out without being noticed, in case the whole double agent thing backfired."

Of course, Hermione thought, he would've actually had a plan B, C even D. Unlike them, they always worked with what they had at the moment. In that moment she realized being cunning is not a bad thing. It was a talent. And maybe after all they did need them to complete the mission.

"I'll get in there and get the journal, head out and meet you guys."

Eva nodded. "At Grimmauld Place."

Hermione and Harry frowned, confused.

"We need to start looking for anything Regulus might've left behind. What better place than his own home?" Eva motioned to the locket in his hand. "We'll head there, and journal for traces, then Draco would meet us once he gets the Journal and we can begin the hunt."

"I still believe this is too dangerous..." Harry mumbled, his eyes going from Eva to Draco.

Eva smirked, in a very un-Eva way. More like a smug, Draco way. "We're Slytherins...strategizing and being sneaky snakes is our element."

She was right. Harry, Hermione, and Ron had been in the dark for too long, and having Eva and Draco strangely felt like they could finally do something with an actual lead. They were right about everything, they had a plan for every move. They'd only found out about Horcruxes minutes ago, and they had figured out more than Harry had in an entire year.

"It's settled then" Hermione finalized with a relieved sigh.


	20. Thoughts

**Dark Thoughts**

He didn't know when, exactly, had it happened. He didn't even knew what _it_ was...Had it started last week, when Eva almost- Merlin, he couldn't bear say it... or last year when he'd been forced to take the mark? Had it been when he had boldly stood up to his aunt? When he'd decided upon leaving the manor? He sighed, it was pointless trying to pin this feeling down to a particular event. It'd been eating him up for so long now, he had lost track of time itself. _When_ didn't matter, and there was no point in knowing _how_ , all he knew was he had to get rid of it, before it got rid of him.

It was almost like he was ready to combust, or simply burst into a rage of massive flames. That urge to save himself from something that wasn't there, to run when there was nothing chasing him. Never a moment of peace, never at ease, always alert. The slightest change in surroundings would send him into a nervous fit, trying desperately to grasp any sense of familiarity near him. He was getting tired of feeling this way, even at night his dreams would haunt him, not a second of rest.

He had to stop it somehow, it was starting to show. The dark rings surrounding his unfocused eyes, his vacant stare, his hunched over posture, every limb in his body, every movement, every feature exposing the instability of his mind.

"You have to take a break Draco" Hermione had said countless times. But he couldn't. No, breaks meant nothing to occupy his mind with, leaving room for horrible memories to lurk out of the darkest corners of his head. The exhaustion he could bear, but the memories had became too much. The busier he was the less time he had to think.

Now it was becoming harder to conceal the tiredness and pain. Some days he would feel drained and grey, lifeless. Other days were manageable, he could at least pretend he was fine for a bit longer. But never, for as long as he can remember, had he been truly fine. Let alone happy. Was that the life he was destined to live? Had his sins finally caught up to him?

When she was around, it helped. The sight of her beautiful amber eyes sparking a flame inside of him, bringing him back to life. That is until the day those same eyes were filled with pained tears, from that day on he couldn't look at them the same way. Every time he did he remembered that night, the night he failed to protect the only good thing he had left. He remembered the sound of her cries, the smell of her burnt skin, the sight of-

He couldn't. He couldn't look at her without this horrible feeling intensifying to its maximum. That's when he knew he had to stop. How could he not be around her? His Evangeline, the biggest love of his life. No...the _only_ love of his life.

Draco sighed, allowing himself to sink once more into the dark thoughts that crept his mind. He had been sitting on one of the two beds inside the room for nearly an hour now, his back against the wall with both knees brought up to his chest, his forearms resting on them. Mrs. Weasley had adamantly sent him up to get some sleep, and no one had dared get near the room in fear of waking him up. That is of course until he heard the door open, allowing a faint light to enter the otherwise pitch black room.

He looked up, annoyed at the intrusion, he knew for a fact Eva was not coming into the room until late hours, she would be helping Fleur with a few arrangements on her dress...was it already as late? How long had Draco been lost in thought? A dark silhouette approached him, silently moving towards the edge of the bed. Draco awaited for his eyes to focus on the face of the figure before him, as the silence was became heavy, almost as though the person inside was too scared to speak.

"You look like shit" said the source

Draco snorted.

"Not so good yourself Potter."

Harry approached him, sitting down on Eva's bed mirroring Draco's posture. He stared ahead, and Draco did too, somehow unsure of what he would say.

"Mrs. Weasley will kill us both if she comes in and finds you awake." He murmured. "I know what you're feeling, you know?"

Draco sighed. He knew, he was no fool. He didn't mean to pretend he was the only one feeling this way. In fact, he was sure that whatever was on in his head didn't compare to what Harry was going through.

"I'd like to say it gets better, but so far it's been worse."

"Are you here to make me feel better, Potter?" Draco sneered. "Cause you're doing a crap job."

Harry laughed dryly. The bed shifted and then a sighed echoed through the room.

"I never got the chance to thank you, for what you did back in Little Winging." Draco looked up, only to find Harry facing the ceiling with his head rested against the bed's headboard. He looked so tired. "I know it wasn't easy."

"It wasn't. But it had to be done." Draco said with finality, somehow, it still wasn't enough of an answer for Harry.

"Why?"

"Believe or not Potter, I don't want you dead. What good would you be to us cold and underground."

Harry remained silent, so Draco continued.

"I always thought you and I weren't so different. Both of us forced to live a life we didn't choose, and forced to fight for the one we do. Two sides of the same coin."

Harry chuckled. "Except I wasn't a smug bastard."

Draco glared and shoved Harry away, nearly knocking him off the edge "Condescending martyr isn't much better."

They both laughed, and then silence. Until Draco spoke again.

"You don't have to thank me, by the way."

Harry looked at him confused, and for the first time they saw each other in the eye. Harry didn't look much better than Draco felt. He continued.

"You've became the only real friend I've had in my life. If it weren't for you I know I would've made terrible choices, in a way, I owe you what I am today." Then Draco added "and Eva, because let's be honest we wouldn't be here without her."

Harry chuckled, then nodded absently.

"Well, choices made or not, I'm glad to have you on my side."

Draco's lips curved in the faintest of smiles. He sure was glad too.


	21. The ministry has fallen

**"The ministry has fallen."**

 _Wedding_

"The ministry has fallen."

The words echoed through the silence. Everything remained still just for a second, and then all around them hell broke loose.

People disappearated on the spot, taking their families with them, their spouses, fleeing before things got out of hand. Screams for help, cries of terror, it was chaos.

Draco's hand instinctively took Eva's, who was standing next to him, and dragged her out of the panicked mass of people shoving and pushing their way through before they trampled over them. He managed to get them out of harm and into the furthest corner of the tent.

"Is this it?" She asked with wide eyes, her face gone pale. She could feel her heart beating against her throat as she caught a glimpse of fear on Draco's silvery eyes. Yes, she thought with sadness, this was it.

"You need to leave." Draco said, his voice breaking at the end. Every time something like this happened, every time the possibility of not seeing her again became too real, he felt like ditching everything and fleeing. Leaving so far away where no one would find them.

Before she could answer though, the Burrow was surrounded by black cloaked figures, chanting a strange victory anthem that made Draco's blood freeze, he recognized the words, they were praising The Dark Lord. The people remaining lost it and began to scatter away, tearing the tent apart. He could see out of the corner of his eye how members of the order rose to action, flashing lights landing all around them and emerging from their own wands.

Draco pulled out his and cussed under his breath. This wasn't supposed to happen. The Weasley's engaged in duel just a couple steps from where they stood with the group of Death Eaters, clearly outnumbered, and he knew they were running out of time.

He took a deep breath, meeting his girlfriend's bright amber eyes and without another second, pressed his lips hard against hers in a rushed kiss.

"I love you." He whispered against them. Eva's eyes shone with such emotion no words were needed. He could hear and feel every unspoken word by just looking into the molten gold irises.

She reached up to touch his cheek with the back of her index finger, kissed him for the last time and left. Only later would he realize she was wiping away a tear.

Draco watched as she ran off, joining the mass of people leaving in an attempt to find Harry, Hermione, and Ron, black mane lost in the multitude. He felt his heart twist in his chest, for the first time he was not entirely sure they would be reunited, and it brought a knot to his throat so painful he thought he would start weeping right there and then. But soon, that heartbreak turned into hot rage, and fueled by that he pointed his wand into the nearest group of death esters and joined the duel.

Eva hadn't even made it halfway into the garden when she spotted Harry, wand drawn, making his way to the tent. Oh no you don't, she thought, fully understanding his intentions.

She sprinted towards him, and reached him just in time before he managed to run off into battle.

In the middle of Eva's attempt to get a hold of him she caught a glimpse of Ginny back inside, and she understood why he was in such a hurry to get there. Taking advantage of her distraction he pushed Eva aside and took off once more, calling her. "We need to go!" Eva yelled, running after him, and standing in his way. He tried to push past her but she forcefully surrounded his arms with her own, pushing him back. "Harry please!"

"GINNY!" He shouted above her shoulder, the desperation in his voice sent a chill down Eva's spine. She almost felt guilty for keeping him from joining her. "She needs me! Ginny!"

"Eva!" Hermione shouted somewhere behind them, puffy eyed and red cheeks stained with tears, rushing towards them with a beaded purse against her chest. "Now!"

"No!" Harry shouted but Eva shut her eyes, keeping the pained voice of her friend out of her head, and reached out to get a hold of Hermione's outstretched hand before spinning in her place.

They landed in the street next to Grimmauld place with the noise and chaos of the Burrow still echoing fresh on their heads. Eva didn't waste another second before she let go of her friends and crossed the street in a sprint. "C'mon." She called after them and went inside. As she figured, she was greeted by the alarms set by the Order. With a flick of her wand she got rid of them, and scanned the place for other people.

"It's clear." Hermione announced before she could, wand out as well. Eva sighed and leaned against the wall, taking off her heels and tossing them aside. Hermione started walking down the hall and Harry remained still on his place by the door.

"Listen." She said struggling to look at him in the eye, her back still pressed against the wall. "I'm sorry, but we had to go."

He shook his head and gave her a tight smile. "It's not your fault. It was stupid of me."

Eva smiled back, then started walking to the living room where Hermione was settled. Only then did Eva remembered how upset she was and how Ron wasn't here.

"Hey." She cooed, joining her down on the floor where she sat crossed legged, roaming around her purse. Eva took her hand on hers and squeezed. "What happened?"

Hermione was looking down at her hands shaking her head, fresh tears running down her cheeks.

"Hermione?" Harry called, sitting in front of both girls in the large dusty armchair.

Finding herself in the middle of unwanted attention she broke into a fit of sobs. It was strange seeing her loose it like this, usually she was the cool headed one, the most collected. "He wouldn't come." She hiccuped. "H-he would n-not come!"

Ron.

Eva looked up at Harry and she could see the hurt in his eyes. Sometimes she forgets how close Ron and Harry used to be.

Hermione wiped away her tears with her spare hand and continued. "H-he said his family needed him. I tried to m-make him understand but- but he wouldn't listen." Eva rubbed small circles on the back of her hand and sighed. Ron hadn't been the same since the battle, but she never thought he would ditch them like this.

Eva let go of her hand and surrounded her friend in a comforting embrace, her hand rubbing her arm up and down in a poor attempt to make her feel better. Hermione cried for a while on her shoulder, as Harry looked at them both with unfocused eyes. They remained like that for a little while, and until Hermione's cries turned into soft hiccups she stopped.

"Why don't you two stay here." Eva whispered with an encouraging smile. "I'll make some tea."

Hermione nodded and straightened up, wiping her face with the back of her hand. Eva stood up, knowing both friends needed a moment to talk, and went into the kitchen.

She had never been as close to Ron as them. They were good friends there's no denying that, he made her laugh a lot, but she couldn't quite pin down when exactly had things gone so tense with him. She knew his relationship with Draco was strained, but she couldn't understand why he didn't come if he knew Draco wouldn't be here.

Once she made it into the kitchen, Eva searched the cabinets for the kettle and mugs. She ran her wand through them to clean them from the dust and rust, and filled the kettle with clean water. She waited, leaning against the counter, and sighed. She could still feel the adrenaline of the moment pumping through her veins, making her remain on edge. Slowly, trying to relax, she started to undo her hair. She released the pins and let the strands of hair fall down.

Once she was done, she closed her eyes and ran her fingers through it, massaging lightly. Far into the living room, she could hear the muffled voices of her friends, probably discussing tonight's events.

Eva groaned, the image of Draco's worried eyes in her head. She had refrained from looking back once they said goodbye, knowing she wouldn't be able to leave if she did. Harry had, and it had taken all of her to keep him from going. Things between him and Ginny had improved a lot since the battle, and she personally loved the way they got along. Ginny and her had gotten closer, and she knew how scared she'd been for him this past year.

The whistle of the kettle brought Eva back to reality, and with a deep breath she served the tea and waved her wand so they followed her into the living room. When she walked inside she saw Harry and Hermione both waiting for her, the latter looking much more relaxed.

"Here." Eva said and swished her wand. Each mug moved forwards and landed on their hands. She sat down next to harry, sitting over her feet and took a sip of her warm and soothing tea.

They drank in silence, each lost on their own heartbreak.


	22. Mother

**Mother**

 _A day after the wedding_

"Draco." She breathed out, almost as if she didn't quite believe it was actually him, standing in front of her. Like he was just an apparition, a ghost. For months she'd dreamed of the day his son would come back, and now she couldnt bring herself to believe it.

Draco looked back at her, although not as fondly. "Mother."

He stood in front of the woman that he once sought refuge with, the woman that once held him till he fell asleep and told him stories whilst they walked through the gardens. Now, it was only that. A woman. Someone that he hoped still cared enough for him not to turn him in.

"My son." She whispered, her lower lip trembling with emotion. "Is it really you? Are you really here?" She took a step forward and attempted to embrace him but Draco held her wrists and gently pushed her back.

He took a deep breath, and purposely averted the hurt look on her eyes. "I'm not here to rebuild burnt bridges, mother." His voice was curt, and cold, which sent a shudder through her.

The boy standing in front of her looked nothing like the one she raised. For starters, he was no longer a boy. No, she thought, her son had grown to be a man. A man that carried himself with regal elegance and determination. His chin held high, his hands relaxed. Not a tense muscle in his body. But he regarded her with ice cold eyes, his face inexpressive, like he was looking at a complete stranger and not his own mother.

"I've apologized a hundred times, you know how sorry I am, I never wanted any of this to happen to you." She desperately tried to reach out to him with wet sad eyes.

They stood in Draco's room, where he'd placed several warding spells upon his arrival before sending a house elf to fetch Narcissa. No one remained in the Manor, as he'd predicted, but he still refrained from making too much noise.

But now, standing where he'd stood for 15 years of his life, where he'd hid and cried himself to sleep countless times, where he'd known nothing but pain and suffering, he couldn't hold it any longer. He'd promised himself he wouldn't bring those memories back, but when his mother's words dug out the resentment he'd sworn to bury deep in his chest for the rest of his life, his chest burnt with anew anger.

"Apologies aren't enough!" He spat, making her fall back in shock. Never before had he raised his voice at her.

"Please, my son you need to understand!" She held a hand up to her chest, as if it might burst with emotion at any moment. "I couldn't stop him!"

Draco sneered, a dry humorless chuckle escaping him. "Of course, it is always somebody else's fault. Poor Narcissa, forced to watch her family fall apart unable to do a thing!"

She hitched a breath, anger flashing through her usually tranquil and impasible face. "How dare you."

"No, mother. How dare you." Draco's eyes stung with tears as he spoke, his brows furrowed. "After all you've done, you think words will fix it? Words won't take away the pain, the punishments! It won't take away this!" He hastily pulled up the sleeve of his black shirt, revealing the sickening mark tattooed on his forearm.

Narcissa gasped, turning her back on her son and hiding her face between her hands. His words cut through her like knives, and she felt so small and helpless. She remembered the day he got the mark, remembered how she had tried to make her husband understand that he was just a boy. Her little boy.

"I tried to keep you safe." She mumbled through her fingers, her face covered in tears.

Draco however didn't seem to pity her, his anger only intensified when he caught her crying. How could she feel sad, when it was him that had the worst end of the situation? "Safe." He snarled. "Giving me -your only son- to the Dark Lord and have him do with me what he pleased, no mother, that was not keeping me safe."

Narcissa broke down into painful sobs with a loud thud as her knees collided with the wooden floors. Her heart was destroyed by every word he said, and she knew deep down that was all true. Those weren't words he was speaking out of anger, those were the words of her child, her sweet baby, finally saying what he really felt. Finally expressing all those years of pain.

"Give me another chance-"

Draco sighed a shaky breath, momentarily loosing grip of his confident facade, and showing his mother how truly broken he was. She wanted to die, how could she have let her only son come to this?

"You had your chance, Narcissa." He said with strained voice, his own tears falling down, every memory flooding his mind. "16 years, you could've done something...but you just watched as I was beaten and punished by my father, you just watched when he pushed me to impossible limits. You just watched when he offered me to the Dark Lord, when he made me do all those horrible things- YOU JUST WATCHED!" Draco choked out, every word burnt like poison against his throat. "I was just a kid- JUST A KID MUM! He made me watch my teachers die! He made me torture! Look what I've became! LOOK AT ME!"

Narcissa was now clutching the edge of Draco's four poster bed, crying out loud, her face scrunched up in horror. She shook her head in repeat stuck on a trance.

"You never had the courage to stand up to anyone." She heard her baby over her, his words wrecking her further. "No humane person could watch a child being abused, let alone a mother. And that is exactly what you did, hiding away in the shadows, making sure no one found out just how messed up our family truly was."

He stood above her, head raised in defiance. No matter how much she cried, how much she pleaded, she deserved this. She deserved to know just how damaged her son was, and how much of it was her own doing. Her shoulders shook violently as she struggle to pull in air amidst strangled sobs, gripping on the bed for dear life to the point her knuckles turned white.

"I'm your mother!" She finally managed to choke out, bloodshot eyes looking up with anger. It boiled Draco's blood.

"Then start acting like it." He snapped, turning on his heel to start walking away from her, his hands violently brushing away the tears. "Like I said, I'm not here to rebuild burnt bridges, I'm here because i need something from you." He didn't dare look at her in fear of becoming upset once more, so he directed his eyes towards the piles of school books on his old desk. "Consider it your final chance to do good for your son."

It took a few seconds for her to reply, voice croaky and weak. "What do you need?"

He sighed, his manipulative move had worked, he was after all a Slytherin, and above that- a Malfoy. With the last bit of courage he had left, he pinched the bridge of his nose taking a deep breath and tried his luck.

"I need the journal Bellatrix has hidden somewhere in this house."

"Regulus' journal...b-but why?"

"That's for me to worry about." Draco stopped, and grasped the desk leaning forward.

"I- Draco. That's impossible."

He shook his head "For me? Possibly. Not for you. You know where it is." In the back of his mind he was mentally planning an escape, considering every possible outcome. He'd lost sight of the mission and let his feelings take the best of him, now he wasn't so sure she would help him. "So what's it gonna be, _mother_?" He looked over his shoulder towards his shaky and frail mother, still on the floor. Cold grey eyes meeting scared black. "Will you be able to finally do something for me?"


	23. Da Vinci's Code

**Da Vinci´s Code**

 _Five Days After the Wedding_

The journal arrived five days later. A small, thin house elf named Trinket had delivered it, her trembling hands clutching it like the book might disappear from between her fingers. She'd informed them that Master Draco had asked her to bring the journal to Mister Harry Potter, and to tell him and his friends that Master Draco wouldn't be able to join them for the rest of the mission. Then, with big shining tennis ball eyes, she pulled a crumpled envelope from inside her dirtied makeshift dress, and handed it to Eva.

Master Draco was very sorry, she had said, and he wishes good luck to Mister Harry Potter and his friends.

Mister Harry Potter and his friends. That's what Eva had been downgraded to.

The second she'd heard the alarm she'd set to announce someone's arrival go off, she'd ran from upstairs and hurriedly rushed into the kitchen calling his name. Just one day, he said, one day and he'd be joining them with the journal. What kept him for so long? It didn't matter to her, because he was here now. But much to Eva's surprise, she had encountered the elf where Draco should've been standing.

The news Trinket had delivered hit her like a ton of bricks, and completely ignoring the journal they'd finally been given, Eva bolted back upstairs and tore the envelope open. She dismissed the thing and pulled the letter to her face, reading through it so fast she had to go back several times.

" _Evangeline,_

 _I haven't got much time so I'll try to be precise. My mother got caught, we managed to move south where she'll be safe. They're tracking us down, Eva, I can't go back. I can't lead them to you. Please understand, I couldn't let them kill her. Help Harry, he needs you. I promise as soon as its safe I'll be back with you, but for now, hold on to the promise we made to each other that night in the Astronomy Tower. I love you, my Evangeline. Please, wait for me._

 _Always yours,_

 _Draco._ "

From that moment on, Eva had been furious. First of all, how dare he disappear for days in a row, not a word from him, not a sign to let her know he was alive. Second, ' _wait for me'_ ? What exactly did the son of a bitch think she'd been doing for the past FIVE DAYS? And how vain must he believe her to be, how could he imply that Eva wouldn't understand him saving his mother? By Merlin, she'd been the one constantly pushing him to make peace with Narcissa. They've been together for...bloody hell, it's been quite some time hasn't it? Anyways, they'd been together for AGES and Draco still seemed not to have a clue about what happened inside Eva's head. It made her incredibly angry, and now more than ever she wished he was here so she could grab him by that inhumanly neat and soft hair of his and make him understand.

Fortunately, Eva hadn't much time to loose sleep or hair over Draco's utterly useless letter. The following days, Hermione had been quick to assign her and Harry to 'searching' duties, where they basically searched each room of the house down to the loose plank on the floor, turning the whole place over, only to come out empty handed. Eva knew though that that the girl only made them do that so they stayed out of her way whilst she studied the journal.

"Bollocks!" They heard her shout from the living room, where they'd last left her. Harry and Eva ran from the kitchen and into the room, the latter still holding a half empty plate of chopped carrots.

"What? What is it?" Asked Harry hurriedly crouching next to her, his mouth still half full from eating and covered in bread crumbs.

Hermione gave him a look, "Why are you eating!" Her aggravated look made Eva immediately hide the plate from the bushy girl's view.

Harry on the other hand, mumbled stupidly. "Um, we- uh, I-"

Hermione's nostrils flared "I told you to look for- ugh! Never mind!" She rolled her eyes and quickly shoved the journal into his face as if the answer was clear for him to see. Frankly, Harry saw nothing more than a thousand small neatly written letters.

"This is wrong, it's all wrong!" She spoke with annoyance plastered on her face. Harry shot Eva a look, and she returned it, both strongly believing their friend had finally lost it.

"O-kay" Eva cautiously approached her and dropped down next to Harry. "What is?"

Hermione smacked her palm against her forehead, obviously exasperated by their complete incompetence.

"This!" she waved the book right under their noses. "There's nothing here that will help us find the Horcruxes." She sighed dramatically and stood up like a bolt, making both Eva and Harry back away in fear of getting hurt by her overexcited hand waving. "I've read it twice, cast every spell on it, I even read it backwards and nothing!"

In the back of his mind, Harry wondered when exactly had she found the time to read the entire journal twice and backwards, secretly wanting to ask but deciding against it for the sake of his head remaining intact.

"So-" he dared interrupt her rant, rubbing the back of his neck. "What do we do now?"

Hermione groaned and sat back down on the armchair, with a flick of her wand the journal hovered above them as she pulled a piece of paper and scribbled violently. "The one thing that stands out, are these. At first I thought he was just writing the date, but they don't make any sense-" with every word she wrote a something down, clearly having already memorized it. "They just appear on a few pages, not all of them, but I've been looking all day long and they don't match anything! It's impossible!" She turned the page around for them to see. "They have to be important but I can't figure out what they mean!"

Eva scanned the page and frowned... Vb0770? What is that even supposed to mean?

"Have you tried Arithmacy?" Eva suggested as her eyes carefully studied the random numbers and letters on the piece of paper as Hermione nodded

"That was the first thing I did."

"And did you reverse it?"

"Twice and nothing, unless the clue is jumbled up letters that make no sense."

Both girls quickly engaged on an agitated discussion over what the 'code', as they decided to call the strange random letters and numbers, could mean. Completely oblivious to their methods, Harry had found his way to the journal. He didn't even try to solve the code, fully knowing he wouldn't be able to if they couldn't. He wasn't willing to make a fool of himself that early on the day.

Careful not to mess with the several notes Hermione had tucked inside it, he opened the journal and slowly turned on the pages. Just like his friend had said, the code appeared on several pages, sometimes like a mindless doodle, and sometimes, on the entries that looked like were addressed to someone in particular, he signed the bottom of the page with it. Vb0770. He even saw some of them were circled violently and he could almost see Bellatrix angrily attacking the journal in her frustration.

In the back of his mind, he thought of how it reminded him of the way Da Vinci signed his artwork. He didn't know much about the man himself, or art for that matter, but he had seen a book on Anatomy by the artist back in Regulus' room. Regulus' was an art fanatic to say the least, his entire private library packed with all sorts of books focused on the genius minds of the various artists. He'd grown bored a few days back as he searched his room, and decided on busying himself by looking at the pictures on the domes. He thought it strange to see so many muggle books on his house, particularly his room, but didn't question it any further.

Harry hummed, and just for the sake of it decided to amuse himself by testing his newfound knowledge. He walked into the window, neither one of the girls paying him much attention, and pressed the top of the open journal against the cold glass. He'd read about Da Vinci writing secret notes, and occasionally sign his pieces, so that they could only be read with a mirror.

With a soft sigh he tried the same, replacing the mirror with the nearest most reflective surface, it being the frosted window.

"No way." He whispered astonishingly. He watched with shock as the letters turned, and on the window the words reflected back. "Uh, guys?"

Nothing.

"Guys!" He tried again, urgently. He didn't dare move from his place at the window, scared that if he did he might mess up his discovery.

"Yes?" Hermione asked, hurriedly joining him with a confused frown, Eva right behind her.

"Look." He said, nodding towards the window.

At first, both girls tried to see outside, past the frost. "What? I don't see anything."

"Not outside! The reflection."

"Harry what are you trying to d-" Hermione reproached, but Eva placed a hand on her mouth and gasped.

"By Merlin." Eva's eyes darted from the window to Harry, and then back, shocked expression mirroring that on Harry's face. "How."

Harry couldn't exactly find the words to explain, he could hardly believe it himself. Eva suddenly grinned so widely it made her cheeks hurt, and she laughed with joy clapping her hands. Her happiness brought an equally bright grin to Harry's face. Hermione however remained very still on her place, staring at the window in confusion.

"I don't get it, what happened?"

Eva pointed forward, jumping slightly with excitement. "Just twist the 7's, do you see it now?"

Hermione's eyes grew into the size of soup plates, and in awe moved her head towards a grinning Harry. "You did it"

More than praising him, she sounded incredulous. He'd done it. He'd just held the journal for five minutes, and he'd solved what Hermione, with all her years of reading and studying, had been trying to solve for days.

"I read it on one of Regulus' books, on his room. It said Da Vinci used to write codes like this, so I thought I'd give it a try." He answered like it was the simplest thing. His explanation only sent another punch to Hermione's astonished face. Of course she knew that, she'd read at least a dozen books on Leonardo, and Harry, who'd picked up the first title he could out of boredom had solved the code. Da Vinci's code, for crying out loud.

Eva continued laughing, and held Harry close on a tight embrace, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "You're a genius!" She squealed. Harry let go of the journal and awkwardly returned the hug.

Defeatedly , Hermione gave in to the girl's excitement and laughed as well, though more sourly and dry.

The journal laid on the ground, becoming useless now that they knew the answer. Even though she hadn't solved it, Hermione immediately understood what the word meant, and she realized with relief they had their first solid clue.

"So what does it mean?" Eva finally asked.

Hermione gave both friends a slightly preoccupied look. "It's not a what" she bent down and picked up the journal from the ground, carefully placing it in the coffee table. "It's a who." She met both of her friend's curious glance and bit the inside of her cheek. "Looks like we're gonna have to go to London, and meet Apollo."


	24. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**_MERRY CHRISTMAS!_**

 ** _How's everyone liking A Chance at Redemption so far? Please everyone feel free to leave a review, good or bad, I'd love to hear your thoughts! I've got a few events left to cover, and I'm working on a one shot collection for Draco and Eva's life after the war. Pleaaaase leave reviews, I don't know if you guys enjoy reading Eva and Draco or not, or if you want me to write something in particular. Also, I don't know about you but I feel like I'm making Draco a bit soft, maybe I'll go back to make him a smug show off like the one we know and love._**

 ** _Things to look forward to:_**

 ** _-Draco/Eva reunited_**

 ** _-Ron-Eva action_**

 ** _-Draco's big decision_**

 ** _-War_**

 ** _Thank you so much for reading!_**

 ** _atte._**

 ** _Author_**


	25. Apollo

**Apollo**

Horcrux hunt, London.

"I take it this is it?" Eva asked, staring at the bright red door in front of her with a frown.

Hermione nodded. "This is it."

"I don't think I understand what this is, exactly." Harry ran a hand through his hair, clearly at loss.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I told you, he's the one we're looking for."

"Technically, you just dragged us out the door muttering something about a picture-" Eva began, but quickly shut up once Hermione's murdering glare landed on her. She raised her hands in surrender. "But if you say this is it, then so be it! I trust you completely!"

Harry snickered behind Eva, earning himself a push from the girl.

Hermione on the other hand, approached the door, ignoring her two friends now looking at her attentively, and rang the bell. It took a full minute before they heard several locks clicking on the other side, a loud grunt, and then the door flew open, revealing what Eva would have never guessed. Well, she hadn´t even guessed to begin with, she had no clue what or who to expect.

Standing inside appeared a man that seemed to be on his 40's with a scruffy stubble, long brown hair, and friendly freckled face, although he didn't seem too happy to see them, neither did he seem angry...he was almost- confused. Like he didn't get much visitors, or any at all judging by the long blue bathrobe he was wearing. What threw Eva off a bit was just how incredibly ordinary this man was, nothing jumped at her as a clue to where the Horcruxes might be. The confused man scanned the three friends, eyeing each of them carefully before slowly raising a brow.

"Can I help you?" His voice had a thick sort of accent, which Eva couldn´t quite place, but given the fact she wasn´t english to begin with, she didn´t fret about it. The man himself seemed pretty nice. The wrinkles at the corner of his eyes showed just how much he smiled, or used to.

Hermione, as expected, did the talking. Harry was too awkward and Eva too upfront, better to leave it to a relatively decent girl to talk to the man. She cleared her throat and smiled politely "Good Evening, Mr. Apollo?"

He frowned, but nodded. "Yes?"

"Sorry for the unexpected visit, Mr. Apollo, but we really need to talk to you. It's an emergency."

He seemed taken aback by Hermione's urgency, but then Harry coughed uncomfortably as if unsure of what was going on, making the mystery man land his eyes on the raven haired boy, recognition suddenly flashing through them. "You, I know who you are!" He pointed a bony finger towards Harry´s forehead, looking almost scared. "Reckless kids- you can´t be seen!" He shoved the door open and hurriedly motioned for them to get inside. "Quick! Get in ´fore anyone else sees you."

They squeezed past him and into the foyer, a bit too confidently in Eva's humble and untrusting opinion, which led her to slip her hand to grip her wand carefully tucked inside her coat, ready to use it if necessary. The man scanned the sidewalk, before shutting the door and locking it.

The place was small, with a single narrow hallway, dark walls packed with a hundred different hung pictures, overall cozy and well kept. What did catch Eva's attention however was the absolute lack of magic inside the flat. It was no-maj -ehem, _muggle_ \- to the last book.

"Come now, this way." Apollo said ushering them into the nearest room. It was a small living room, neat and cozy. The fireplace was on, and judging by the bundled up newspaper carelessly thrown into the coffee table and the half drunk cup of tea, Eva figured Apollo had been sitting here before they arrived.

Apollo walked towards the window and hastily shut the curtains as the three friends sat down on the couch facing his previously occupied armchair. "What on earth were you thinking, dropping by unannounced?" he complained, making his way towards his seat. He looked uneasy, but not angry. In fact, Eva dared say this man had been angry only a handful of times in his whole life.

"We´re sorry, Mr. Apollo, we can assure you we made sure it was safe before getting here." Hermione tried to appease the man, smiling at him with her best apologetic smile. "We´ve come here because it´s a matter of urgency."

"So you´ve said." He sighed, taking his tea from the table. "Don´t see how I can be of any help, miss-?"

"Granger, Hermione Granger. And these are my friends Eva and Harry. Although I figure you already know who he is."

"Pleasure."

He took a sip of his tea, as though the subject was closed, but Hermione was having none of it. Eva could see just the tinniest of twitches on her right eye, and she knew the girl wouldn´t take no for an answer. "How do you know Harry?"

Apollo raised his brows at Hermione, and shook his head, setting the cup down on his lap. "Can´t imagine someone wouldn´t know ´im. His face´s all over the damned place, but he talked about you, all right. Summing ´bout some scar, I dunno." He rolled his eyes. "Used to talk absolute nonsense back in the day, the bastard."

"He?" Hermione questioned, leaning forward "You mean Regulus Black?"

"D´you know him?" Shock spread through his features, his hands almost loosing grip of the mug. "Did you know Regulus?"

Hermione eyed Harry and Eva next to her, and pursed her lips. "No, not personally anyways. His brother´s Harry´s godfather."

Apollo eyed Harry knowingly. "Ah, Sirius. Yes, met him once." His eyes then became distant, like he was trying to remember the good old days. "How´s he?"

Harry´s breath hitched. "He´s dead." He snapped almost angrily, but Eva knew he was just surprised to be asked of him by a stranger. Apollo frowned and shook his head sadly.

" ´course. " He then smiled with tight lips, staring pitifully at Harry. "I´m sorry lad, honest."

Harry shook his head, brushing off the apology like it was nothing worth discussing. Eva could almost feel his discomfort, so she decided to cut in before things grew tense.

"Mr. Apollo, how did you know Regulus?" She tried to sound as though she was merely curious, and not bluntly interrogating him. Apollo´s eyes became once again vacant, his mind going back through the years almost visibly. "Were you friends?"

Apollo chuckled and shook his head in a _silly girl_ kind of way. "Friends? Yeah well, in the eyes of others I s´pose that´s what we were. Friends."

Hermione became instantly interested, and leaned forward. Eva´s confused brows started to relax as she slowly began to understand what Apollo really meant… _in the eyes of the others I suppose that´s what we were…_ could they be-? "Were you close?" Hermione asked, for the first time genuinely too naïve to see the truth. No, not naïve- innocent, Eva thought somewhat amused.

"Hermione-" Eva tried not to smirk, a soft spark of understanding passing through her and Apollo as they locked eyes before he cut her off.

"We were lovers, young lady."

Harry choked on his own spit, gasping for air as Eva softly patted his back. Hermione on the other hand, blinked a couple times before breathing out a soft "Oh."

Although the whole scene seemed ridiculously funny, Eva couldn´t help but notice how the man´s eyes grew sad all of the sudden. He buried deeper into his armchair, as if the years hit him all at once, making him look old and tired. This changed things, Eva guessed.

"Can you tell us more about him, Mr. Apollo?" Eva half whispered, trying to appear trustworthy. He sighed, and Eva tried once more. "You see, we found a journal back on his old childhood home. He wrote your name quite a few times on it, that´s how we knew to look for you."

The mention of the journal seemed to upset Apollo, as he straightened in his seat and ran a hand through his eyes. Eva hoped she hadn´t pushed him too far accidentally.

"Blasted journals. He ought to have gotten rid of the damned things, I tell you."

"Do you know about the journals?" Harry asked. Hermione looked at him unbelievably, and Eva could almost hear the words coming from her mouth. _Of course he knows about the journals you idiot, he just said so!_

He huffed, and drank the last of his tea before setting it aside. "I know about´em, all right. He en´t do nothing but write one after the other, he said they were important. Summing ´bout defeating the leader of that horrible gang of his. Prob´ly wrote ´bout half a dozen on the last few weeks."

 _Gang._ So he is a no-maj, Eva thought as she eyed Hermione and Harry, both realizing what she just had. Looking at the three friends in front of him, Apollo finally gave up and with a loud exhale he settled more comfortably on the armchair.

"We were together for two years, I met Reg - _er_ Regulus- back in Oxford. Likely he was looking for someone else, but he found me instead. After the first couple months, I followed ´im to London, where he said we´d be together. In a way, we were, but he always ought to do some nasty job for that terrible gang, it´d keep ´im away for days. We lived further south, lovely place, ought to move out after he- well, died." He talked as though it hurt him no more, but Eva could see past his façade, she could see his eyes squinting ever so lightly. Every word he said though, seemed to blast down every assumption she´d made of Regulus Black. For starters he wasn´t entirely lonely, he had a lover, of all things.

"Did you ever notice him to act strange?" asked Harry, as he crossed his arms. "Sort of weird things happening when he was around?"

Apollo eyed Harry carefully before offering him a small smile. "I know what you mean, lad. Regulus did make _strange_ things happen, all right. Wasn´t like me, I knew, never asked ´im what he was though, didn´t want to. Prob´ly wouldn´t have liked the answer. You´re like ´im too, I can tell, you carry them sticks round en´t you? Well I en´t like you. I´m- what´d he call me?"

"No-maj." Eva whispered, then shook her head to correct herself. "I mean- _muggle_."

"Muggle, that's it." He repeated, shaking his head slightly. "I en´t know much ´bout you magic lot, but he did explain a couple things every now and then. Didn´t talk much ´bout it, to be honest. All I wanted was a normal life with ´im."

Hermione smiled sadly, understanding first hand how the muggle/wizard interaction worked. It was hard to maintain an unbiased relationship on either side, there was always that sense of…not belonging. Like one was keeping a secret from the other.

"But he never introduced you to his family? His- _gang?_ " She asked. Apollo shook his head in return.

"His family en´t know ´bout us, better they didn´t, he said. Never met ´em, s´ept Sirius, the crazy gal. Regulus was always very dark, and mysterious, always pressured by that horrible gang leader. We ought to keep us secret, that is, for my safety. Never understood why he kept sayin´ that, never questioned ´im either. Always did as he said."

"So how come he told you about Harry and his scar?"

"Heard ´im once, talking into some green fire one afternoon. He was talking ´bout a sort of, dunno, legend? He told someone ´bout a babe that´d be born some specific day. Likely important. But I read ´bout the scar and this lad right here on one of them papers with moving pictures, sodded things keep gettin´ delivered even after he was gone! I know you´re wanted by that gang leader and his croonies. Them crazy bastards sometimes pop around ´ere, it was dangerous coming ´ere like that!" He threw his hands up, and Eva couldn´t help but smile. " ´nyway, Regulus disappeared one night, he said he´d be out, might take some time. I reckon you know what happened to ´im better than I do. I waited and waited, s´posed it must´ve been summing with that gang. Like I said, it´d sometimes take ´im away for days. A sort of warning ´rrived four days later though, like a letter. It asked me to take all our things, ´specially them horrid journals, and head out north, keep a low profile. Keep ´em guarded, it said, and stay safe meself." He looked down at his hands and sighed. "I didn´t know he was gone, I never. Thought he might´ve gotten in trouble, or summing of a sort. "

"How did you find out?"

He looked up to meet Harry´s eyes once more, "Your godfather visited me ´fterwards. He told me ´imself."

There was a moment of silence, none of them daring to say something in fear of sounding insensitive. Here they were, digging out some poor man´s worst memories of the time he lost his lover, when they didn´t even think Regulus had one.

After a few seconds though, Apollo took a deep breath and clasped his hands together, bringing their attention back to him. "I s´pose you come ´ere for the journals, then." He sighed and shook his head. "Sorry but, no can do. Like I said, them things were importan to ´im, can´t just give ´em away now can I?"

Eva understood where he came from, those journals were probably too dear for him to give up. She imagined herself on his place, having only Draco´s written word to keep her company, how could she ask this man to just- _hand them over?_

But she had to, because the cause was bigger than them, much more important.

"I understand what we´re asking means to you, Mr. Apollo." She cooed, voice soft and silky. She hated being manipulative, she also knew it was one of her best talents. "You know, I understand you better that you think."

He frowned, and she could almost feel her friends doing the same. "D´you now?"

Eva nodded, feigning sadness. "I myself am dating a Black, you see. In fact, he´d be Regulus´ nephew, in a way. My boyfriend´s mother is Regulus´ cousin." Slight surprise flashed through Apollo´s eyes, and then Eva knew she had his full attention. "He´s involved in the same gang…it´s a family obligation to be a part of it. I tried to stop him before he got in, but there was nothing I could do. He, like Regulus, had no choice."

"What´s his name?" he asked.

"Draco Malfoy."

Apollo leaned back, nodding. "The young Malfoy, yes. I know ´bout ´im too. En´t he some sort of royal?"

Harry laughed shortly, Hermione nudged him to shut him up. "No he isn´t." Eva answered equally amused. "but his family has a lot of money, you see the Black family is very important in our community. As are the Malfoys. Doesn´t surprise me Regulus kept you away from them, he meant to keep you safe. To them your kind, the non-magical, are inferior. Unworthy."

"He told me so." Apollo agreed. "Tell me more about this Draco. How´s he like my Reg?"

Eva smiled at how he referred to Regulus, and secretly wondered if Draco referred to her as _my Evangeline._ "Growing up in a family like the Black and Malfoy isn´t easy. They have traditions and mentalities, from centuries back, that make them mean and intolerant of those different from them. Draco, like Regulus, grew up like that. When I met him though, he changed his mind about his family. He´s fighting against those horrible ancient beliefs. But they had to pretend they still believed, which is why both joined the gang their families belong to. In a way, they became spies, leaking information from the gang to the authorities. Regulus did too in his time, hence why he wrote the journals."

As she spoke, she felt tears forming at the base of her eyes, a soft sob escaping her lips. She hadn´t meant to cry, but the memory of Draco getting the dark mark did that to her. She soon found herself unable to stop the painful emptiness in the pit of her stomach, a feeling she recognized as longing. She missed him so much, and only then did she allow herself to feel that. Harry moved closer to her, realizing her tears were true, and held her hand.

"He´s been missing for a few days now, Draco." Eva spoke through now contained sobs. Her eyes darted to the ground, fearing to give into her emotions. "We´re at war, our kind is at war. My boyfriend, he- he left to find something to help us win the war, but he´s been gone for so long now I-I don´t know anymore."

Her voice grew desperate, but Eva was only trying very hard not to break down. She didn´t want to fall into that endless cycle of panic and despair, crying at night because she didn´t know where Draco was. She was so much stronger than that, a fighter, not a damsel in distress. She wanted to trust him, wanted to believe he´d come back when the time was right. With a gulp, she managed to subside the emotions and stop the silent tears from falling.

"Mr. Apollo, I don't mean to take away the only reminder you own from your lover, but my boyfriend risked his life to get the one we have, which only lead us to you." She locked eyes with the man in front of her, who mirrored her own brokenhearted gaze. Although she had initially said it to try and sympathize with him, she saw now just how they were the same person. Two hopelessly devoted lovers, who's happily ever after was tainted by the dark mark, and a ridiculous hero complex. Yet, both still standing and holding on to a promise. "You can help us find what Regulus started. He was a good man, Apollo. A good hearted man that chose to do the right thing in the end, even if it cost him his life. He was brave, and he loved you so very much. Don´t let his sacrifice be in vain."

Mr. Apollo´s own cheeks were now stained with tears, his lower lip trembling slightly. She could almost feel his doubt, and wanted to get up and hug him, wanted to abandon all her Slytherin image and tell him things would get better. For both of them. Before she could though, he closed his eyes for a second, then stood up. Much to their surprise he only walked towards the back of the room, and reached for a box on the floor. With steady hands, he lifted it up and brought it towards Eva´s own extended ones, leaning in close and whispering only loud enough for her to hear. She was surprised to hear him speak so clearly, his rough accent replaced with a softer, subtler voice.

"I made the mistake to hide away when Reg was in danger. I assumed he knew what he was doing, but now, years after it´s happened, I see just how stupid I was to believe he could handle things on his own. I´ll never know if he needed me then, if I could´ve helped him, it´s too late now anyway. Not for you."

He let go of the box, and smiled knowingly to Eva, who found herself smiling back at him through tears and hiccups. Had she pretended the whole thing? She ha initially planned to act a part, make herself appear more similar to him. No, she realized then, she hadn´t feigned a broken heart. She really was broken hearted, just as much as Apollo was. She needed Draco to be safe, with her.

"Thank you, Mr. Apollo." Hermione was quick to say, smiling warmly at him. "If you´d like, we can give these back to you when everything´s over."

He shook his head, a faint shadow of a smile still on his face. "Rather you didn´t, Young lady. I reckon it´s time for me to move on."


	26. Italian Villa

**Italian Villa**

 _2 weeks after the wedding._

He had missed this place, he realized as soon as he arrived. His eyes scanned the place, feeling a strong sense of familiarity with every detail he took in, the bricked walls, wooden columns, warm stone floors. Through his place in the terrace, he could overlook the endless vineyards, the valleys, the trees, the fresh smell of ripe fruit and flowers all around him, the soft sunrays going down as the day ended. Sunny days were rare in Scotland, he liked the clear sky and warmth. Every aspect of this place made him was supposed to make him feel at home. Supposed to.

Draco sat on the garden table set for two, as he drank freshly made lemonade and chopped strawberries alongside his mother, both drinking in silence. He should´ve felt at peace, everything was perfect to do exactly that, yet Draco was anything but peaceful. In fact, he sported a permanent frown on his now slightly tanned features ever since he arrived. They were not relaxing or enjoying themselves, they were in hiding.

Draco and Narcissa took off shortly after his mother had been caught stealing Regulus´ journal, having nowhere to go. Soon, his mother remembered the old Italian Villa she owned, the one Draco and her used to visit when he was just a kid, one of the many Black properties scattered around the world. Draco hated the idea, he wanted to go back to Eva as he had promised, but his mother had made him see sense of their current situation. Bellatrix and Lucius were tracking them down, and if he rejoined his `mission´ he would lead them straight to their base. So he reluctantly arranged for a clandestine portkey, which probably cost him more than it should have, and fled to the Villa hidden somewhere in Tuscany, Italy.

They´d been there for a week and a half, he thought sighing angrily, taking a forceful sip to his drink that now tasted bitter. Had Eva gotten his letter? He´d made sure she´d get it once they were in Italy, but maybe his father and aunt had gotten a hold of it before it could reach her.

He hated being there, even though he loved the place, he had forgotten about it completely having been years since he last came, overall everything still remained the same. The people that tended to it were the same from when he was younger, they were now old and their children had began to work there as well. The dog that used to play with Draco had passed, and a new puppy had taken it´s place. Everyone welcomed them and prepared for their arrival, the Villa warded and secured to the last stone. Draco himself had made sure of it. They were invisible to the outside world, too far away to be tracked, and he hated that. They weren´t `safe`, they were housebound. Imprisoned.

He´d tried to go back to his friends as soon as he arrived, thirty-seven times to be exact, but he knew from his mother´s information that snatchers and sometimes even dementors were guarding the area, and he had no desire to run into those. After all, ever since he got the mark, he´d been unable to produce his beloved patronus. The thought made him more depressed and ashamed of himself.

Getting a portkey back had proven to be impossible, no one within a thousand miles radius was a wizard or witch. All muggles, including those that worked at the Villa. He´d tried apparating which took must of his energy away and only got him as far as Switzerland. He´d been there for winter vacation a couple times, and only knew the one place in the middle of nowhere. Once again _useless_.

So he´d spent the past few days trying to recreate a portkey, _that_ had worked. He had tried it a few times only landing on Hogmseade which set a horrible alarm off. Two days ago he managed to get to Knocturn Alley, how he was still alive was a wonder to him. Today though he was sure the portkey would work. He´d tried it a few times, it landed him, rather roughly, on a cold forest in the middle of absolute nowhere once more. He knew it was in England, he´d searched for it in the Villa´s library, The Forest of Dean it said. It was the safest place to go, according to Narcissa who assured him the area was out of the snatchers´ way. He´d be going there again, tonight. The plan however went as far as getting to England, how he´d find his way to Grimmauld Place was still beyond him

"You have to be safe." His mother made him promise once he´d gotten ready for the journey. He packed only a few essentials, which made her worry. He ignored her. "Will you be coming back?"

Draco sighed. His relationship with his mother had improved, not drastically, but it was definitely better. However, he´d spent every waking hour and even sometimes entire nights working on getting back, not bonding with her. Their relationship remains strained, but he didn´t regret getting her safely out of the Manor. He knew if she was left behind, she´d be killed without a second thought.

He decided not to give her an answer, and instead went out through the large gates, out of the wards that prevented him from apparating or portkeying. With a second glance over his shoulder, he looked at the Villa and silently made a vow to take Eva to the place that given him such good memories during his childhood. She would love it there, he thought, and perhaps someday if things went good they could make it their home.

And with that last hope, Draco took a hold of his portkey and hoped for the best.


	27. Separate Ways

**Separate Ways**

 _Camping_

"Guys, we need to talk to you."

The voice that invaded the otherwise completely silent tent brought Harry and Hermione back to reality, both having been lost in thought for nearly an hour. Harry himself had been once again planning for his encounter with Voldemort, he´d more than once stated that he did not care what happened to him, as long as the war was over. Hermione had nearly killed him for thinking like that. The girl on the other hand sulked in silence, busying herself with the book Dumbledore had given her and trying not to let anyone see just how brokenhearted she was by Ron´s abandonment.

They currently camped at some strange mountain whose name everyone ignored. A few days ago they´d received a signal coming from no other than Draco Malfoy, he´d lost no time contacting them when he arrived, warning them about Bellatrix and Lucius. It´d been Hermione´s idea to remain in hiding until they find a way to destroy the Horcrux they´d already found. But they kept moving around, unable to stay in one place with snatchers, dementors, Death Eaters and Voldemort´s followers alike hunting them down.

"What about?" said Harry, confused. In the entrance stood Draco with Eva by his side. He looked serious and grim "Who´s keeping watch?" he became suddenly alarmed.

"We´ve set wards, don´t worry about it." Draco sighed. It shocked Harry and Hermione alike, that´d have been the perfect opportunity to tease him for being overly paranoid.

"um," Eva mumbled, coming closer and sitting down on Hermione´s bunk bed beside the girl herself. She looked sad, Hermione noticed, and it made her worry. "Listen, guys. We´ve been talking, Draco and I, and we might have a way to stop snatchers from finding Harry."

"Yes?" Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"The ministry knows I´m with Harry, they saw me when we were there. Death Eaters know Draco´s with Harry because he took the journal. We were thinking, Draco and I can create diversions, leave traces to mislead them."

Harry frowned. "What are you saying?"

"We´re saying we should separate." Draco replied shortly, his voice leaving no room for doubt. "Eva and I will head the opposite direction from you, leading them to us. That way you´ll be clear."

Hermione´s face grew angrier with every word he said until she finally snapped. "Are you out of your mind?!" She looked at Eva in disbelief. "Separating won´t help!"

"It will." Eva tried to sit her down again, but failed. "While we´re gone, we´ll look for the Order. They probably don´t know if Harry´s alive or not. We´ll find them and prepare them for the battle."

Whilst Draco had been at the Manor, he´d overheard several Death Eater´s talking about Voldemort´s plan to attack Hogwarts. He´d learnt about what Snape had been doing since the term began. He told Eva, and she just couldn´t ignore the problem. How could she? There were kids at school for crying out loud!

"You´ll expose yourselves." Harry argued but Eva laughed dryly.

"We´re already exposed. Harry, we can´t leave them on their own. Draco and I will gather the Order, and warn them about You-Know-Who´s plans. In the process, we´ll make sure you´re clear to keep looking for the Horcruxes. You´ve got everything right there, you just need time to track them down and that´s exactly what we´ll do, give you time."

Harry and Hermione looked unsure, eyeing each other with wary.

"It´s not safe, and we might be taking a risk but we can´t just expect everyone to know You-Know-Who´s plans. We´ve got to warn them."

Draco leaned forward and took Hermione´s hand on his in a reassuring squeeze. The past few days they´d spent geeking over Regulus´ journals, admiring his work and decoding the last of the Horcruxes. Basically, bonding over a dead man´s diary. "You can do this on your own. We trust you. You don´t need us here anymore, but they do. And you need time to find the horcruxes, you can´t do that if you keep looking over your shoulder every step you take."

Hermione looked sad all of the sudden, and her lower lip began to quiver. Harry looked at Eva and his eyes fell. He hadn´t been sure he´d survive the hunt, but at least he was glad his friends were with him. Now they wouldn´t be.

"But we won´t abandon you." She added almost reading Harry´s thoughts, digging on the pocket of her coat. Out of it she pulled a ring, the ring her mother had given her before she took off to France. It was a delicate silver band with the Beaumont crest in it, an orchid embedded with a small topaz. "Here, I´ve charmed it. Anytime you´re in trouble, or need us to get to you, just press the stone with your thumb for three seconds. It´ll lead us to you."

She handed the small ring to Hermione, who took it unsurely. "But Eva, this is your mother´s-"

"I´m just lending it to you, for the time being." She answered with a smirk. Then winked at Harry´s way. "You can give it back when this is all over."


	28. Ronald

_**Hey guys! Listen, some of you won´t like this oneshot I´m sure. But it´s part of my storyline so I´m sorry, it has to happen to explain some things. Sorry!**_

* * *

 **Ronald**

 _One week till the Battle._

She´d left Draco that night. She didn´t know exactly how she´d gathered the courage to do it, but she had. She had to get this done before they were on their way to regroup the Order. She had been trying to do it for some time but it had proven to be impossible with all the journal decoding and horcrux hunting. But now, there was no choice, no other option. She sneaked off the tent careful not to wake anyone up, and moved as further away as she could. Once she was finally out of hearing range, she apparated, landing in the middle of the beach, and setting some sort of horrible cry alarm off.

There was a lot of noise coming from the cottage, a beautiful small beach house with shells all over it, even in the middle of the night they seemed to be shimmering like crystal. Eva didn´t have much time to admire it though.

"Stupify!" The door burst open and instantly, three sets of wands were aiming at her head. From each, a blueish streak of light landing dangerously close to Eva´s head. Eva let out a shout and jumped away from the spot where the curses had landed. Honestly, she should´ve thought this better.

"It´s me, Eva!"

A male figure moved from the entrance, not lowering his wand, and stopped before her. She recognized him immediately, it was Bill Weasley. But before she could be happy to see him, he twisted his wand so fast Eva barely had time to take her own out, and with a single word she didn´t recognize she felt her entire body pinned in place, unable to move. She could move her head though, and she used it to glare at the oldest Weasley. "So you say, prove it!"

"I am!" Eva grunted trying to free herself from the curse but Bill´s wand remained pointed at her.

"Prove. It." Bill spat stubbornly.

She sighed, her mind raced, trying to find credible enough proof. "You told me, at the Burrow, that you and your brother Charlie once smuggled snifflers into the Leaky Cauldron, and used the stolen objects to buy yourselves tickets for a Falcon´s quidditch Match." She answered with a smug smirk, which promptly caused Bill to stare at her, his mouth gaping.

He blinked once, twice, not lowering his wand, until he burst out laughing and pulled Eva from her body lock. She breathed out relieved, and grinned at the man. He was good with curses all right. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the strong pair of arms surrounding her and pulling her into an earnest embrace.

"What the hell are you doing here!" He asked, though a bright grin enlightened his scarred face. Eva herself was happy to be reunited with him. Out of all the Weasley´s, Eva had grown closer to Bill. She didn´t know why though. Bill let go of her and turned around to the shocked figures a couple meters behind. "It´s Eva!"

One of them moved closer, and Eva recognized him as the reason for her visit. "Eva?" the second redhead asked incredulous. Ronald.

Eva pursed her lips. She had to do this, she was here for this. "Ronald. I came to talk to you."

* * *

Eva sat across from Ron, both Bill and Fleur having left them alone a few minutes ago. She had casted a private charm on the kitchen, so no one could listen, but she was unsure of how to begin, and looking by the way Ron nervously fiddled with his own fingers he was too.

"By the way, they´re fine." She finally said, and her friend visibly relaxed. She had sensed his urgency as soon as he spotted her outside. Why hadn´t he asked her?

"What are you doing here then?" He whispered, eyes still glued to his hands.

"You need to come with me, your friends need you." Eva went straight to the point, growing more and more exasperated by Ron´s hesitation to talk to her. He seemed so nervous, what was he hiding?

"I-I can´t." He stuttered and sighed. "My family needs me too."

Eva remained skeptical. "Oh yeah? Where are they now?"

Ron sighed and scratched the nape of his neck nervously. "Listen. I did stay with them alright? Just, not anymore. They were questioned at the Ministry when the wedding was attacked. My parents stayed at the Burrow, with Fred and George. Ginny went to Hogwarts and Charlie went back to Romania. I hid here with Bill and Fleur, just in case they tried to question me too."

"So you´re hiding." She accused, her face serious. "They´re safe, and you´re hiding."

"It´s not like that." Ron tried to say but Eva held a hand up to shut him up.

"You better have a damn good explanation, Ronald." She snarled, trying with all her might to contain the anger building up inside her. "You abandoned your friends to protect your family, but from where I stand your family seems to be protecting you. You broke your friend´s hearts, you betrayed them. I had to clean up the mess you made, I´m giving you a chance to do the right thing, and still you dare tell me you can´t?"

Ron´s ears became red with every word, shame painted all over his face. Eva didn´t want to look at him, in fact, she wanted out of there.

"I´m not a coward."

Eva sighed, then ran a hand through the messy strands of hair falling over her face. She had to relax, before saying anything more. She didn´t want to ruin this, Harry and Hermione needed Ron to come back.

"Then tell me, why can´t you do this?" Ron looked at his hands again, not meeting Eva´s deadly glare.

He mumbled something under his breath, something that sounded dangerously close to _"I can´t"_. He. Can´t.

Eva snapped, the last of her will to refrain from exploding now lost. With a sharp intake of breath she stood, pushing the chair back and smashing both hands on the table. It made Ron jump and nearly slip of his chair. Served him well.

"That´s it! What´s your damn problem?!" She shouted, nostrils flared as she breathed heavily. Ron looked faint, and gripped the edge of the table with desperation. His lower lip quivered as if he was trying really hard not to break down. "Why won´t you come with me?!"

He shook his head, eyes down. Eva leaned closer, almost too close and spoke once more, alarmingly demanding. "Look at me." Much to her surprise, Ron did. His eyes were bloodshot and his face flushed. He was the personification of embarrassment, and only for a bit did Eva feel sorry for him. He must be really troubled, she thought, by leaving his friends something broke inside of him. "Tell me, Ron. Why."

"Because you´re there!" he snapped back, standing up and turning his back towards her all in a single action. Eva remained in place, his words echoing inside her head but unable to register them. Because of her? He wouldn´t go because of her?

"W-what are you saying?" Eva shockingly whispered after a few seconds. She had somehow moved too and now had her back pressed against the kitchen counter, looking at the floor in astonishment. So it was all her fault now?

Ronald still faced the other way, breathing hard. "I can´t. I can´t go with you because I can´t see you, not with him I can´t. " His words stumbled one after the other, not making much sense. This couldn´t be true, what had she done to him? Then realization hit her before she could complain.

"You can´t see me with who?" Her eyes went back to the back of his head, and waited for an answer. Ron didn´t respond. "Ron, you can´t see me with who?"

Suddenly, Ron moved before Eva´s eyes could register. He closed the space between them in two strides and hastily locked his hands on the small of her back. She was too surprised to move as cold, dry, desperate lips smashed against hers in a hungry kiss.

It took her two seconds to react. First, she felt his hands pressing her against him, then his lips urging into hers, but it wasn´t until she heard him moan under his breath that she snapped out of her trance. He was kissing her. He was kissing-!

With a single strong push she freed herself from his lock, and punched him square in the jaw. Ron yelped and fell back against the kitchen table. "What the fuck is wrong with you!" Eva growled, wiping her lips with the back of her hand and feeling exploding pain on her other. She didn´t care about her hand. She felt dirty, and guilty, and so ashamed. Had she kissed back? Oh Merlin, what was going on? She´d kissed...him.

Ron staggered up, but didn´t look like he regretted a thing. It made her want to cry. "I´m in love with you alright? I love you I can´t stand to see you with Malfoy! I can´t go with you because I can´t see you with him!"

Something clicked inside Eva, and she finally, after many years, understood. Ron´s hate towards Draco had nothing to do with the fact that he was a Death Eater. He was jealous of him. Jealous of him because he had Harry´s friendship, and now Eva. This is all because of childish jealousy. It made her blood boil.

"Listen to me now, Weasley." Eva hissed, sounding so much like Draco it took Ron by surprise. "You don´t love me. Not even close. This _thing_ with me is a mere obsession. You´re so obsessed with Malfoy taking everything away from you that you´ve created this lie. But I will say this once and only once and I hope you listen because this is the last chance I´m giving you."

She took a step forward, fuming. "You will come back with me, and stay with your friends. You will tell Hermione how damn sorry you are. You tell them both that you tried to join them but got lost. You contacted me and _begged_ me to take you to them. You will not speak a word about what happened, not a word. And you will forget all about this stupid obsession of yours."

Ron didn´t move, instead he look at Eva like she´d grown a second head. "But-"

Eva grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him hastily towards her. She felt her lips still numb from the kiss, and it only made her want to cover her face in shame, but she remained standing. "You have no idea what this means, do you?" Ron´s eyes were wide, and scared. She was both ashamed, and angry and it scared him. "You love Hermione, you do. I know it, you know it, but you let your obsession get the best of you! You´re a grown man Ronald, act like it. This is not a game, this is not Hogwarts. You can´t just abandon your best friend and the woman you love for a childish crush! Now, pull yourself together, put your big boy pants on ,and fix what you broke." Every word seemed to slap Ron across the face, and Eva felt no pity for him anymore. "Do you understand?"

Ron sat down once more, looking defeated.

"I understand."


	29. Eternity

**Eternity**

 _Sometime during the horcrux hunt_

He´d been dwelling on it for some time now, longer than he should have. It seemed to him like it was not even something he should _think_ about to begin with, it was something that had to be done. The timing wasn´t perfect, but it might never be, in fact he thought that the longer it took him to do it, the worse the timing became. Also, he had tried a few times before, but he hadn´t had the proper… _materials._ Things had changed too, Harry was closer to finding the fifth horcrux, the war was upon them. He´d been busy, to say the least; sneaking in an out of Hogwarts, training kids, reopening Dumbledore´s Army, regrouping the Order, appareting here and there to lead snatchers off Harry´s trail. Speaking of which, he should take this moment to acknowledge just how useless those bastards were, only the other day Eva came face to face with them and she managed to flirt her way out. Draco hadn´t been at all happy with that, he would have rather have her duel them to death. They had to _obliviate_ them afterwards, of course, but still.

Anyways, things had been tough on Draco lately. But he wouldn´t waste any more time. If he kept delaying, putting it off, or allowing things to get in the way he would never do it. Today was as good time as any, right?

So he walked down the beach, where Eva would be probably trying not to explode. They´d been staying at the shell cottage, with Bill and Fleur. Last time they apparated to Aberforth´s they almost got caught, Draco hadn´t had time to obliviate the Death Eater, so now his face and Eva´s were plastered all over Hogsmeade with a reward on their heads. They had to keep a low profile for a while, catch their breath before taking off again. This had made Eva go crazy. She couldn't sit still for longer than a few minutes, and Draco could see how desperate she was to continue their mission. The only thing that seemed to take her mind off things was the beach.

Draco followed her daily trail, and spotted her standing further away than usual. She was facing the soft waves, covered in a thick wool jumper too big for her. Her eyes were closed, and the air ruffled her hair in all directions, but she didn´t seem bothered. Draco had not seen her so at peace in a very long time.

He was a few feet from her when she smiled and sighed loudly. "Morning." She cooed, allowing Draco to embrace her from behind. He buried his face on the crook of her neck and took in the scent of salt and coffee.

"Morning." He mumbled back, his voice muffled. He lifted his head and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Aren´t you freezing?"

She shrugged with her unoccupied shoulder. "It´s nice out here."

She lifted her hand and ran her fingers through Draco´s tussled hair. She smiled. Ever since the way, he´d ditched styling it back like he used to. Eva liked his hair better this way, a long fringe dancing over his eyes. She´d been happy to see Draco´s hair was actually wavy, and not sleek straight like he´d made her believe for years.

"What are you thinking about?" he whispered when her eyes became vacant. She smiled.

"Your hair."

Draco frowned. "What?"

"Nevermind."

He sneered. "Ah, so you noticed I changed my style." Then mockingly took a strand of long dark hair and lifted it up disdainfully. "Can´t say the same about you."

She gaped and pushed him away, offended. "Ass."

He chuckled, rubbing his chest "you know I love your hair babe. It gives off a _just-walked-outta-bed_ vibe. Drives me crazy."

Eva laughed and smiled darkly. "Let´s see how crazy it drives you to wake up bald as a sphinx cat."

"Are those the ugly wrinkly creatures?"

"Yes."

He gasped and held a hand to his heart. "Whatever issues you need resolved, you deal with me not my hair."

She laughed it off and smirked. "You had it coming."

He took a deep breath and circled her, standing right between her and the water. "Speaking of things that are coming, I need to tell you something."

Eva´s playful smile fell instantly, making Draco´s heart stop with worry. Had he said something wrong? "You´re not leaving again." She whispered painful, grasping his wrist so hard it made him flinch.

"What?" He blinked confused. "No, it´s not that."

Her eyes looked up, and suddenly Draco´s heart broke. So this is what Harry and Hermione meant with Eva being affected by his departure. The day he found them, Eva had acted as though she´d been fine, but his friends had told him the truth. He had half believed what they said, Draco himself hadn´t seen Eva act that way since he returned, and she seemed to be taking things well. Now he saw the truth. He´d caused her so much pain.

"Eva." He sighed, and embraced her tight against his chest. "I´m so sorry, I should have never left."

Eva buried herself closer to him when he mentioned that, and sniffed. She wasn´t crying, but he could feel her shivering. "It´s okay."

"No it´s not. I thought it was but it is not." He ran a hand through her hair and kissed her temple. "Please forgive me."

She nodded "There´s nothing to forgive Draco. I´m fine now. You´re with me."

"And I´m never leaving you again." He whispered, puling away enough to meet her eyes. "That´s what I´ve been meaning to say"

Her eyes opened and looked up to him, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "Okay."

He kissed her forehead to ease her, still holding her. "Those days that I was away, I had never felt so empty. It made me realize something that I already knew, but it became so real when we were apart. You make me complete, Eva. You made me a better man from the moment I met you, and keep pushing me to do the right thing. Without you, I´m sure things would be so much different now. I am the man I am today because of you. I´m so grateful to be loved by someone like you, someone that believes in me more than I believe in myself." As he spoke, Eva´s eyes shone under the sunlight, a bright soft smile curving her lips. "My life would mean nothing without you in it. I could live without you at all. More than being grateful, and owing you who I am, I love you more than I thought I was capable of. All I want to do is be with you, take care of you, learn from you, I want to grow with you." Draco rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes for a second before opening them again and meeting Eva´s golden gaze. "I don´t know what will happen to me, to us, with the war. I can´t see the future, but I can see the present. You´re with me now, and I want to make the most of the time I´m with you. Remember that day at the Astronomy Tower, when I made you promise we´d be together that day next year?" she nodded silently. "You said we´d be together for eternity. At the moment it felt like a deadline, like our days together had an end. Now I see the truth. I meant what I said that night. I want you to know I meant every word. But now I don´t want to think of futures and promises. I love you more than my own life, Eva, and I want to be yours. I want to be yours for eternity, but this is our eternity. Today, right now."

With a sigh, Draco dug on the pocket of his jacket and pulled out the _material_ he´d acquired during his time with his mother. He held it between them, and Eva´s eyes grew wide, her mouth agape. "Draco." She whispered incredulously. In his hand was a delicate silver ring, with a single oval cut emerald surrounded with a halo of small diamonds. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Eva remained still, processing what was happening.

"I want to spend eternity by your side. It would be a privilege to be yours, and be able to call you mine." Draco held Eva´s trembling hand, and looked at her in the eye with such intensity it sent a shiver down her spine. "Evangeline Beaumont, will you marry me?"

Eva´s eyes welled with tears, but didn´t hesitate a second. Her face broke in a bright joyful grin as she nodded and threw her hands around Draco´s neck. "Yes!"

Draco laughed and held her tight, before pulling away and taking her hand again. He placed the ring on her finger, and it fit so perfectly it nearly surprised him. When he looked up, Eva was looking at him. She was so full of emotion she felt like she might burst. It was a given they would get married, hell, Eva had even fantasized about this day many times before. But she had never expected it to happen now. However, just like Draco had said, it felt right to do it now. It felt like the only thing to do. She looked at the beaming man in front of him that had once being the biggest jerk at school, and felt her heart combust. She was so in love with him. Finally, when Draco placed the ring securely in her finger, he brought it up to his lips and kissed it, sealing the deal.

Only then did Eva admire the ring as it shone against Draco´s lips. "Draco, where did you get it?"

Draco smirked and winked. "When I was with my mother I talked to her about you. I told her I´ve made the biggest decision of my life, which was to marry you. I´d planned on doing it without the ring, but she told me about this one. It has been in our family for many generations, not the blacks, but my Grandmother´s family. It was hers, and she gave it to my mother when she died. She gave it to her so one day, I could give it to the woman I married."

Eva´s eyes were pink and full of tears, but she smiled even brighter. "I'm hopelessly in love with you, Draco Malfoy." She whispered, locking her hands behind his neck. "and you´ve made me the happiest I´ve ever been in my life." She leaned in and kissed him, only briefly, before looking into his silver eyes. "I´m yours. I´m fully, irrevocably yours."

Draco grinned, and kissed her. Taking the time of his life. They had an eternity, anyways.


	30. AUTHOR S NOTE

**_Hey everyone!, thank you so much for reading A Chance At Redemption, I hope you´re liking it so far. So, i just wanted to let some of you know that I´ve rewritten a few chapters, seeing as they had several mistakes, or were too sort._**

 ** _Mostly all of them were corrected, but chapter 4, 11, 12, and 28 are the most...changed? yeah, anyways, that´s all!_**

 ** _Final 3 chapters coming up!_**


	31. Malfoy Manor

**Malfoy Manor**

 _Sometime before the Battle of Hogwarts._

Eva wished they´d summoned her sooner, for crying out loud, she wished they´d summon her any other time. She has been waiting for them to do it for days, but no! Merlin forbid her friends know what good timing means, they had to choose precisely now to be in trouble. She let out a loud, frustrated groan.

"What is it?" Draco asked from under her, breathing hard and looking at her through his lashes. "Why´d you stop?"

"It´s them." Eva grunted from her straddling position on top of him, before trying to pull away. Draco´s eyes widened and his hands, which had previously been holding on to her hips, fell dejectedly to his sides allowing Eva to stand up.

"No, no, no." He stuttered, but reluctantly stood too and looked down at himself "I can´t be left like this! What am I supposed to do with it now?"

Eva eyed him as she pulled her shirt on and smirked. "Bummer."

Draco set his jaw and glared at her. "Do you think this is funny? It hurts!"

"Well deal with it!" she rolled her eyes at him and hurriedly looked around for her wand. "C´mon we haven´t got all day!"

"I can´t just deal with- ugh fine!" He swore under his breath and began to get dressed in record time, ignoring the uncomfortable pain growing on his groin. Eva exited the room sometime during his complaining, and came back in breathing hard. She was already agitated to begin with, this was bound to be a physically demanding day.

"I´ve alerted the Order, are you good to go?" She asked, handing him his wand. He nodded, and took her hand before spinning into place and disapparating on the spot with a loud crack.

Draco knew the charm on Eva´s ring was a summoning charm that would apparate Eva, and whoever else was with her, right next to the person doing the summoning. It was a perfectly crafted charm, he´d worked it himself, but there was one thing that concerned him the most. There was no way of knowing _where_ they´d apparate. It was a concern he´d voiced to Eva before, but in the end there was no solution to it other than bracing for whatever awaited them on the other side.

But there was no way in hell Draco could´ve braced for this.

They landed with a loud thud, almost too violently for it to be called a landing at all. They grunted as the weight of gravity pushed down a bit harder than they expected. Draco looked around, slightly agitated and pointing his wand in all directions, Eva was already steady on her feet and doing exactly the same. It took him one full second to realize where he was standing. First, came the strong smell of humidity, and the coldness in the air, but it wasn´t until he looked at the rusty metal door that his anger spiked.

How the bloody hell did Potter and his insufferable friends manage to get themselves caught and imprisoned on the Malfoy Manor´s dungeons?!

"Harry!" Eva was the first to react, snapping Draco out of his anger. He supposed after all, now was not the time to be angry. She rushed over to who he would have never guessed was Harry and hugged him. "What are you doing here? Are you alright?"

Draco scanned their surroundings, casting a silencing charm on the door. It wasn´t until then when he heard what sounded suspiciously like a girl crying?

"Is that-?" he began, before another figure emerged from the darkness. It was already hard to see, but there was no denying that was a very familiar red head.

"Hermione." Ronald interrupted, hurrying closer to him. It startled Draco, they hadn´t really talked since their issue back at the Burrow, and when he appeared into the tent the night Eva and him left he simply nodded his way. Now he seemed to be having a cardiac arrest. Whatever that was. Eva says that a lot. "They have her, do something!"

He was whispering, but his voice sounded as though this was all Draco´s fault.

"Ron…" Harry tried to reassure him, his face going back to normal, with Eva following close behind. She still had her wand at the ready, and didn´t look at all pleased with Ron´s attitude.

"His bitch of an aunt has her! They´re torturing her!" He hissed once more.

Bellatrix had Hermione. That was not good. Draco looked at Harry for confirmation, only to see the man nod solemnly.

"What the hell happened?" Draco finally snapped. "How did you end up in here? You do realize last time I was in here I nearly didn't make it alive?!"

"The snatchers found us." Harry explained, his voice hoarse and tired. "They don´t know its me, but they found the sword of Gryffindor in Hermione´s purse and-"

"My aunt is trying to find out how you got it." Draco finished, turning his back towards Harry and running a frustrated hand through his hair. Of course she would torture Hermione to get answers, that sword was supposed to be in her vault. "We haven´t got much time then, we need to find a way out."

"Draco Malfoy." A third voice announced itself, and Draco turned on his heels, jumping slightly.

"How many of you are in here, did you multiply or something?!" he snapped again, meeting a very vibrant blond. Eva threw him a scolding look before rushing towards her old friend.

"Luna, are you alright?"

The blue-eyed girl looked up at her and smiled, it broke Draco´s heart. His family had the world´s most innocent girl trapped in this horrid place and she still had the ability to smile.

"I´m quite alright Evangeline, thank you for asking."

"Draco what do we do now?" Harry asked, still standing in the place he´d been before. His face was now fully restored, and Draco wasn´t sure that was good news.

"We´re running out of time." Draco sighed, acknowledging for the first time that Mr. Ollivander was hunched over and looking frail as rice paper. Also, there was a third set of shackles opened right in front of him, he didn't want to find out who else had been tied in here.

"What do we do, is there a way out of here?" Eva asked, as she undid the shackled on Luna and Mr. Ollivander.

Draco knew there was a way out; he´d ran into it when he was young. It was small then, he wasn´t sure they´d fit, but that wasn´t the worst part. He couldn´t remember if that same corridor lead to the open field west form the manor, or the main dining room. Either way, they didn´t seem to have much of an option.

"There´s a secret door, somewhere in here." HE spoke as he moved around the room, scanning every inch of it. He couldn´t quite recall how he ran into it in the first place. "It´s the only way out I know of, but there´s a problem."

Another cry from Hermione cut his line of thought, and he stopped dead on his tracks. The sound chilled his blood, and by the looks of everyone around them, they felt the same way. For a moment, his eyes met Eva´s, and his chest ached. She had her hand clamped over her mouth, eyes glassy as streaming tears running down her cheeks. She was trying really hard to muffle the sound of her crying, but Luna was already soothing her back with her hand. They needed to be fast.

"What is she doing to her! You bitch!" Ron rammed against the door, making everyone jump back to their senses.

"Stop! You´ll make them come to us!" Draco ran after him, but it was already to late. He heard the latch on the door open and before he could do anything two death eaters pushed it open, wands lighting every corner of the room.

Everything else happened faster than any of them could register. Draco was the first to react; he stunned the nearest Death Eater before Eva did the same with the second. One of the curses though, missed, and the death eater had only enough time to point his wand at Ron and send him flying back, before rushing up the stairs.

"Don´t let him go!" Draco shouted, shooting curses to try and stop him but it was already too late. He thought of charging after him, but decided against it as soon as he crossed the door. "Eva get them out of here now!"

She looked at him with wide eyes and tried to say something before stopping herself and taking Luna´s hand in hers. Harry ran after Ron and Draco helped Mr. Ollivander to his feet.

He rushed as fast as he could towards the far end wall and tapped around it with his wand. " _Revelio!"_

"DOWN THERE!" the shouts of death eaters above echoed through the dungeons, but the door opened before Draco could begin to panic.

"Quick, get through it now!" He shoved Mr. Ollivander inside, followed by Luna. Eva stopped and took the ring from Harry with haste, chanting something inaudible for the rest. The sound of footsteps was getting louder, and one single screech sent all blood to Draco´s feet.

"BRING HIM TO ME!"

Eva´s red eyes began to well again, but she pushed the ring into Draco´s open palm. "It´s reversed, use it when you get to her."

And with that, without complaining or putting the slightest resistance, Eva walked through the corridor door and closed it after her. Before either one of them could react, 6 snatchers and a few other Death Eater´s barged into the dungeon, pointing their wands at them.

Draco shoved the ring inside his pocket, still too shocked to properly react, but then with one single movement he pointed his wand at them and shouted " _Bombarda Maxima!_ "

The entire front side of the room exploded, sending Draco, Harry and Ron backward, but successfully burying their attackers under massive chunks of debris.

Harry was the first on his feet; he hurried over to one of the fallen death eaters and snatched one of their wands. Ron followed close behind, but Draco could barely see around him. His ears were ringing, his eyes covered in dust, and when he tried to stand up his right arm exploded in pain.

"Your arm´s broken." Harry sighed as soon as he was back, and Draco grunted loudly. This wasn´t looking up to be a very good day.

* * *

Eva was rushing through the corridor as fast as she could. Mr. Ollivander was having a hard time catching up, and Luna was a great help with him, but she wasn´t so sure they´d manage to get out any faster if they kept moving like this.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion and the corridor shook violently. She yelped, casting a shield around the three of them and covering her eyes from the dust. The rumbling continued for a while, before it finally died down. Her first instinct was to rush back and check on her friends but she stopped herself.

"We need to get going." Luna said firmly, holding Mr. Ollivander that was now unconscious. She hooked an arm under his arms and moved along, brushing off the dust and rocks from her jeans before continuing down the dark, suffocating corridor.

Draco regretted casting that spell, had he destroyed the corridor too? He wanted to run after Eva, check that he hadn´t just crushed her to death, but Harry pulled him to his feet and shoved him up the stairs that had somehow survived the explosion. Draco was in a haze, his mind numb, his feet and hands acting purely out of instinct. Somewhere behind there Harry had mended his arm, but it still hurt. No surprise there, he wasn´t very good with spells. He saw Harry´s mouth move, but no sound came out; in fact- was that blood on the side of his face? What´s that horrible ringing?! How does he make it stop?!

He followed them anyways; Ronald was climbing up the stairs two at a time, his wand pointing at the upcoming snatchers. Harry did too, and Draco tried to follow along but the pain in his arm and head was getting too much. Until he caught a glimpse of her brown bushy hair.

Eva had been moving forward for far too long, her lungs had aspirated dust and she was breaking down into a fit of coughs every few seconds. Also, there was a growing pain on her right side, in her ribs, but she was too busy dragging an old man through ruble and debris to check on it. Beside her, Luna was bleeding. She had cut her brow in the fall, and her palms were covered in scratches too deep to not be painful. Her eyes were glassy, but focused, and she seemed just as determined as Eva felt to get out of there in one piece.

Suddenly, Eva was sure she´d found the exit. There were no more turns, no more stairs, there it was. She could see a faint light coming from a small window. They´d made it out.

* * *

Draco managed to get a hold of her hand as Harry and Ron dueled the rest, leaving a clear path for him. He noticed how the spells and curses coming out of their wands were weak and faulty, but he had no time to worry about it, he had to get to Hermione.

"Draco." He heard that horrible voice again, and he stopped, turning around to meet the face of his very own father staring back at him.

Draco´s face scrunched up in rage, the memory of Eva´s burnt body in his arms coming back to him and invading every corner of his mind. There he was, facing the very reason why he almost lost the love of his life. And he was not letting him go without a fight.

Amidst the chaos and shouting, he noticed how Harry was battling Bellatrix, and Ronald was trying to keep two death eaters at bay. Lucius on the other hand, had his wand pointed straight at Draco´s face, and Draco had his pointed straight at his chest.

* * *

" _Confringo!_ " Eva pointed her wand at the end of the corridor and it exploded, much to her relief she found herself staring straight at the field next to the Manor. "C´mon!"

She pointed her wand at Mr. Ollivander, and levitated his body out of the ruble, Luna climbing down next to her. She took a deep breath of fresh air before stepping out herself and taking the man and the girl´s hands in hers.

"Ready?" She asked, and Luna smiled brightly at her.

"I´m ready when you are, Evangeline."

She inhaled, pictured the shell cottage, and spun in her place and hoped for the best.


	32. Strength

**Strength**

 _A day after the escape from the Malfoy Manor_

"Draco you can talk to me, you know that right?" Eva cooed softly into the blond, messy, windswept hair of her fiancé as he leaned back into her chest, sitting between her legs, both of them welcoming the refreshing sea breeze.

Draco´s eyes stared vacantly into the sea, following the soft waves crashing against the shore. He´d been at it for a while now, sitting out here on his own only to be later joined by Eva, who´d been watching him all morning.

It´d been a while since he´d been back from the Manor, 15 minutes after Eva, Luna and Mr. Ollivander did. Eva had been confused, the ring she gave to Draco hadn´t worked, and when they came back it was only because Dobby, the domestic elf, went to get them on Harry´s request. How Harry had managed to get a hold of him was still a mystery to her, and she decided against asking. The poor elf had died saving them, and all of them had been devastated. She wanted to give them some time to mourn.

But Draco, he´d refused to talk to Eva at all.

"Well, I´ll be right here when you´re ready to talk." She added, kissing his hair then resting her chin on the top of his head. "You don´t have to tell me anything."

Draco nodded slightly, before leaning closer to her and taking her hand on his. His thumb subconsciously rubbed the ring on her finger, and she smiled slightly.

"My father saw me, yesterday." He whispered, his voice barely audible. Eva´s attention was fully on him, his sounded absent, almost like he was talking to himself rather than Eva. "He had his wand pointed at me, he could´ve to-"

His voice broke off, and Eva immediately pulled herself from behind him. She crouched down, kneeling in front of him. For the first time since he´d come back, he was showing what had happened back at the Manor. His eyes were red, his face scrunched up in a shameful, disgusted scowl. Eva had a strong feeling that that disgust was self -inflicted. It broke her heart.

"Draco, listen to me." She hushed him softly, caressing the back of his injured arm. During the explosion that Harry explained happened at the dungeons, Draco´s arm broke and he had failed to properly mend it. They had to bandage his arm, and have him drink bone strengthening potions that Lupin brew for him. "Whatever happened in there, you don´t have to explain. Your father is not a good man, but most importantly he´s judgment has been compromised by the Dark Lord." Draco´s eyes didn´t meet hers, so she forced him to by placing a comforting hand on his cheek. "You are the love of my life, Dray. I hate to see you in pain, and I hate to see you suffer for a man that is nothing close to a parental figure. If he cared about you he would have shown that years ago. He never has. He never will. But you have people that love you unconditionally, more so that you did when you lived in that place. You have me, you have Harry, Hermione, Tonks, Lupin, Bill, Fleur, your mother. You are loved, and you´ve learnt to love. Nothing else matters. No one else matters."

Draco stared into her eyes so intensely, it unsettled her slightly. But she held his eyes, the same way she did when he proposed.

Yet, unlike the day he´d been the happiest, his eyes were bloodshot and welled up with unshed tears, pain written all over his features. "I don´t want to be like him." His voice filled with fear, and self-doubt. "When I saw him, he said I was bound to end up the same way he did. He said my destiny was decided, that I could run all I wanted, deny him all I wished, but in the end I would always end up going back to hurting those I love the most. He said it was in our nature."

Eva sighed. "You know what I see, right in front of me? I see a man that has gone through so much, that has been hurt by the people that were supposed to love him, forced to do things that he didn´t want to do. And this same man fought every day to be better, to grow as a human being, to prove himself to those that didn´t trust him because of his family´s doing. He had it hard, from any angle you looked at it, he had it impossibly hard. Yet here he is, proving every single one of us that thought he had no good in him wrong. I see a man that makes me fall in love with him every single day because of that strength, that passion to do the right thing. I see a man that walked into the one place he dreaded the most, faced the people that hated him the most, all for the sake of saving his friends, without a second´s hesitation." She leaned forward, pressing her lips on his own trembling ones. "I believe in you Draco, I have since the moment I met you because I know who you are. And who you are, is not defined by your past, nor your family. It is defined by you, and whatever you believe yourself to be."

She leaned forward once more, kissing his cheek, his temple, and lastly his forehead. She ran her fingers through his ruffled hair, and smiled at him the sweetest most understanding smile she could muster. "Take some time to think about it."

And with that, she stood up and left him to his own thoughts, because she trusted him to do the right thing as he´s always done.

Once inside, Hermione was already waiting for her in the kitchen. It was only her, and Tonks sitting in silence, and Eva guessed they had been watching from the window.

"How is he?" Dora asked, holding her mug with way to much strength. Eva could see past her calm façade, and she knew she was angrier than she appeared to be. "Hermione told me what happened back there, I can´t believe he would do such a thing."

"What?" Eva questioned, not looking at her but instead reaching for a mug of her own. "That he would answer his friend´s call for help? That he would confront his father to save them? Really? You can´t believe that?"

Tonks sighed, placing her mug back in the table. "You know that´s not what I mean, I´m simply saying-"

Eva held her hand up and shook her head, taking a long sip of her tea. "Whatever it is you meant, I think it´s time we stop judging his decisions. He wanted to do it, he did, and now he is back. That´s it."

Eva didn´t mean to sound harsh, in fact she was simply trying to help Tonks understand him better. Her friend simply nodded, her hair turning a light ashamed shade of blue before staring at her hands resting on top of her swollen pregnant belly.

"He´s lucky to have you." Hermione added, who´d been solemnly staring at the pair. Eva looked at her, and she seemed so pale, but so much stronger. Whatever it is Bellatrix did to her, it changed her. "What his father said to him was enough to break him, but he didn´t. You know what he said to Lucius?" Eva shook her head. "Nothing, he didn´t let his father´s words get to him and instead he came to get me. I would have died if my father had told me all those things, but he was so strong. And he´s strong because you taught him how to be." She offered me a sad, sincere smile before reaching over the table to take my hand. I took it without thought. "What you two have is more valuable and powerful than anything his father could´ve done to him. I admire that from both."

"Yeah." Eva whispered half mindlessly. "We´re good for each other."

"Which brings us to the next question." Tonks suggested with a grin, her hair back to its lively purple. "I´d recognize that ring anywhere. Looks like someone´s gonna take the vow."

"What?!" Hermione jumped up form her seat, and Eva laughed. With a wink, she held up her hand for her to see the bright emerald shining against her ring finger. Hermione gasped, then preceded to hurry over to hug her friend. "Oh Merlin! I can´t believe this is happening! You´re getting married!"

"When did he propose?" Tonks asked form somewhere behind the bushy mass of brown hair blocking Eva´s entire view.

"Just two days ago, right on the spot we were at actually." Eva was happy to inform, but today´s events still held her back from celebrating too much. Guess she couldn´t bring herself to do it if Draco was still out there, hating himself. "I´ll announce it some other time, when all this has passed."

Both girls looked at her in understanding, and nodded.


End file.
